Student admissions criteria to widen beyond grades

Polytechnics and universities will have more room to admit students based on their talents and interests rather than just grades, under enhancements to current aptitude-based admission schemes, writes Laura Elizabeth Philomin for Today Online.

At the polytechnics, the Direct Polytechnic Admissions, or DPA, intake allowance will be raised to 12.5% from the current 2.5%, and the scheme will be renamed the Early Admissions Exercise, beginning from the 2017 academic year intake. At the university level, Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University will be able to admit up to 15% of their annual intake under the Discretionary Admissions Scheme – up from the current 10%. It will also begin with the 2017 academic year cohort.

Announcing this during the Ministry of Education’s Committee of Supply debate, Acting Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung said studies by the ministry had shown that among students with similar O-Level aggregate scores, those admitted to polytechnics through the DPA do better in their studies and are more likely to continue in careers in the sectors they were trained for.
Full report on the Today Online site