SINGAPORE: In a few years, as many as half of undergraduates admitted to three universities here may be selected on their aptitude and interest in the courses they apply to, as institutions move away from largely grade-based admissions schemes.
In transition, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) will no longer offer discretionary admissions from this year, which is a scheme that sets aside 15% of places for students who fall short of the entry cut-off score, but who may have other achievements.
Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, announcing the move at the Applied Learning Conference yesterday at Marina Bay Sands, said such schemes primarily still assess students on whether they meet the academic cut-off point of the courses and “strictly speaking, this is different from aptitude-based admission”.
