Here's a roundup of education news from in and around Singapore.
Singapore's
15-year-olds top OECD's Pisa global competence test
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), which conducted the test in 2018, announced the findings on 22 October.
In the Global Competence test, conducted as part of the Programme for
International Student Assessment (Pisa), Singapore students scored an average
of 576 marks, followed by their peers from Canada who on average scored 554,
Hong Kong (542), Scotland (534) and Taiwan (527).
MOE, Universities work together to enhance student safety
Minister of State for Education Sun Xueling has been quoted as saying that "there must be zero tolerance in our campuses for any form of sexual misconduct, harassment or violence”. Her words affirm MOE and university commitment towards stricter student safety measures, after the dismissal of former Tembusu College fellow Jeremy Fernando over allegations of sexual misconduct.
No Singaporean
students displaced by foreign students in MOE tuition grants
Minister for Education Lawrence Wong asserted that "no Singaporean student is displaced from an [autonomous university] because of an international student.” He elaborated that over the past five years, an average of 1,600 international students have received the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Tuition Grant Scheme (TGS) per year, coming to less than 10% of the cohort’s intake.
SEA Games champion Christie Chue heads to Florida International University on scholarship
Initially, the breaststroke specialist, who won three gold medals at last year's SEA Games, was confused by the offer as it came from a direct message on Instagram from Florida International University. However, upon verifying its legitimacy, she eagerly accepted because she had previously heard from friends that there was a better balance between training and studying in USA programmes. She has not decided on a course of study but will receive a scholarship grant of $10,000 in her first year and will be on full scholarship for the remaining two years.
