There is a good news for students who fall short of the entry score for a degree course. Now such students can be considered based on their talents in various fields like sports and arts.
Under the discretionary admission (DA) scheme, up to 2,240 university places will be available to offer spots this year including Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU).
NTU, NUS and SMU will increase the places for the DA scheme, from 10 per cent to 15 per cent of their intake. This translates to about 900 at NTU, 1,050 places at NUS and 290 at SMU.
The Minister of education (MOE) said that the number of places will increase by a few hundred, though the total university intake figures are still being finalised for this year. It is in line with the Government’s plan to increase the cohort participation rate to 40 per cent by 2020.
MOE announced last year that there was room to admit more students through the DA scheme. It also said that the tertiary institutions, including polytechnics, will place greater emphasis on holistic selection practices for admissions.
The cohort participation rate rose to 33 per cent from 32 per cent in 2015 and 15,500 places were offered.
