A global leader in education

Singapore's Education System

Singapore is recognized as a global leader in education and ranked as one of the finest in the world for its quality and consistency in producing students who are rated among the best in literacy, reading, mathematics, and science. As such, Singapore, with a population of 5.9 million, has been the choice destination for around 50,000 foreign students from around the world. Singapore’s education system is in sync with the job market and stays current to ensure relevance to the local and global economy.

To further sustain growth and maintain a reputation for top quality education, Singapore has attracted various leading international institutions. Partnerships such as research collaboration, joint degree, or exchange programs are popular among local universities and colleges.

Generally speaking, education in Singapore can be divided into five stages: pre-primary education, primary education, secondary education, post-secondary education and university education.

Pre-School Education

Nurseries and kindergartens in Singapore provide children aged 3 to 6 with a three-year system of pre-school education. Generally speaking, three-year-olds can enter a nursery school, and four to five-year-olds can enter a kindergarten. Kindergartens registered with the Singapore Ministry of Education are run by community foundations, religious groups and social business groups. Nurseries, on the other hand, are licensed by the Ministry of Social Development.

Kindergartens and nurseries are usually taught in English and a second language. Most kindergartens have morning classes and afternoon classes every day, with each class ranging from two and a half hours to four hours, five days a week. In addition, there are also local international schools that offer pre-primary education programmes for the children of expats working in Singapore. Enrolment dates for nurseries and kindergartens vary, and most nurseries and kindergartens allow children to enrol at any time of the year if places are available.

Primary Education

Since 2003, six years of primary education has become compulsory for citizens. The curriculum for the first four years of primary school is unified, and after four years, students can choose the source curriculum that suits them individually based on their mother tongue, mathematics and science level. This is a new measure implemented after the abolition of the diversion system in 2008.

The first grade to the fourth grade of primary school is the basic education stage. All courses are compulsory courses. There are 4 main courses, including English, mathematics, science and mother tongue (including Chinese, Malay and Tamil). Other courses also include music, art, civics Education, health education, society and sports. Students study science from the third grade of primary school. On average, over a four-year period, 33% of the time was spent studying English, 27% was studying the mother tongue, 20% was studying mathematics, and the rest was spent studying subjects such as art, crafts, music and physical education.

Primary 5 and Primary 6 are orientation stages. At the end of the sixth grade, all primary school students must take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). The test includes 4 main subjects. According to the test scores, students will be able to enter different schools and take different courses.

Secondary / Junior High School

Students who pass the Primary School Leaving Examination can advance to Secondary One, and secondary schools are divided into four types: Special Courses, Express Courses, General Academic Courses and General Technical Courses:Special Program – A 4-year program where students can take Advanced Mother Tongue, either Advanced Mother Tongue or English as their first language. The special class only accepts students with excellent grades in the Primary School Leaving Examination. About 5% of the primary school graduates choose to study in the special class every year. Express Course – 4-year course, students can only take Express mother tongue courses, other courses are the same as special courses, English is the first language. Ordinary Academic Course – 5-year course, students take Cambridge N-Level examinations in the fourth year, after which they can take the fifth year of courses, and then take the Cambridge General Diploma examinations (GCE ‘O’ Level) with special / express students. ).

General Technical Course – 4/5 year course, students have 2 main subjects, English and Maths, take the Cambridge N-level examination in the fourth year, most students do not take the fifth year course after the N-level examination, and go directly to Technology academy. The majority of students in Singapore take fast track courses, a small number take special courses, and about 30% take general academic or general technical courses.

In the first and second grades of secondary school, all courses are compulsory; the courses in the third and fourth grades of secondary school are set up for the general diploma (GCE ‘O’ Level) or N-level examination, and some courses can be based on the student’s grades and the school’s curriculum. Set to elective, the elective courses will be the subjects of the exam.

Secondary students must also participate in Co-Curricular Activities (formerly known as Co-Curricular Activities), which can be used as a course grade when applying for admission to a polytechnic or technical college, but can only be applied to junior colleges and senior secondary schools. As a bonus, not a course grade.

The test scores are divided into 9 grades: A1, A2, B3, B4, C5, C6, D7, E8, F9, of which D7 or below is a failure. To apply for admission to a junior college or senior secondary school, the total L1R5 score should not be higher than 20, the English level should be at least C6, the second language level should be at least D7, and the mathematics level should be at least C6. In 2004, Singapore began to implement the “through train program”, sometimes Also known as the “Integrated Course”, it allows some high-achieving students to take a 6-year course, skipping the Ordinary Proficiency Exam (GCE ‘O’) and taking the Advanced Proficiency Exam (GCE ‘A’) directly after 6 years of education.

Secondary schools in Singapore are divided into independent secondary schools (Independent), autonomous secondary schools (Autonomous) and government secondary schools. Among them, the tuition fees of autonomous and government middle schools are uniformly regulated by the Ministry of Education. Autonomous middle schools can set their own tuition fees, which are generally much more expensive than ordinary middle schools, and the quality of education is better. The Singapore government has released secondary school rankings every year since 1992, according to the results of each school’s Cambridge General Diploma examination. Before enrolling in the top 30 schools, foreign students who did not take the Baccalaureate must take an IQ test sponsored by the Singapore Ministry of Education before they can apply to these schools. However, it is up to each school to decide whether or not to accept the application. Primary and secondary schools in Singapore generally adopt a half-day system. Compared with the Chinese education system, classroom classes are not as busy. Junior colleges, junior colleges and polytechnics continue to use open full-time.

Post Secondary Education

After graduating from secondary school, about 15% of secondary school graduates are able to enter the pre-university program education center (Pre-University Centre), such as junior colleges and senior high schools, most of them will enter university. While more than half of Singaporean students will enter post-secondary education centres such as Polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education, only a fraction of them end up in university.

Singapore has two educational centers for university preparatory courses, namely Junior College (referred to as Junior College, Junior College) and Senior Secondary School (referred to as High School, Centralised Institute). Students there can choose from two types of courses: science and liberal arts. All students are required to take 3 Cambridge Advanced Diploma subjects (H1) and 3-4 Cambridge Advanced Diploma subjects (H2). In addition, students with strong learning ability will be able to choose the third-year subjects (H3) under the recommendation of the college. Senior three subjects are the advanced level of students’ own elective subjects, and the difficulty and level are relatively high. After two or three years students will eventually take the Cambridge Advanced Diploma Examination (GCE ‘A’ Level) before entering university with a Cambridge Advanced Certificate.

After graduating from secondary school, there are two options for non-academic post-secondary education (Post-Secondary): Polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education. Polytechnics and ITEs do not have degree programmes, so students will graduate with a diploma without a degree: Polytechnic graduates will receive a Diploma, while ITEs will receive an ITE Certificate, and then into the job market. Students with excellent grades in the Polytechnic can be promoted to the University of Singapore to continue their bachelor’s degree; students with excellent grades in the Institute of Technical Education can be promoted to the Polytechnic. At present, there are five polytechnics in Singapore, namely: Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic.

University Education

In addition to medicine, law, engineering and other majors, Singapore’s university education system is the same as that in the UK. Generally, it only takes 3 years to obtain a general degree, and it usually takes 4 years to obtain an honorary degree. There are 6 public universities in Singapore. They are:

National University of Singapore (NUS,

Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT),

Nanyang Technological University (NTU),

Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD),

Singapore Management University (SMU),

Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

National University of Singapore (NUS)

Since its establishment in 1905, it has cultivated many outstanding talents. The main courses offered include science, mechanical engineering, technology, law, liberal arts, sociology and medicine.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

Founded in early 1981, it mainly trains talents in engineering and technology for Singapore. The Singapore Institute of Education (NIE), now also part of Nanyang Technological University, is a teacher training college. At the same time, Nanyang Technological University has also established courses in accounting, business and mass communication.

Singapore Management University (SMU)

It is a university established in 2000 and the first local university to be subsidized by the government. The main courses offered include business and management courses.

Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)

Founded in 2012, it is the fourth public university in Singapore. There are four departments: Process and Sustainable Design, Engineering Product Development, Engineering Systems and Design, and Information System Technology and Design. For three majors: civil and environmental engineering, production line management, and manufacturing engineering, the school offers a two-year MIT-SUTD dual master’s degree.

Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)

Singapore Polytechnic University, formerly Singapore Institute of Technology , Singapore government announced on March 28, 2014 that Singapore Institute of Technology has been upgraded to the fifth public university in Singapore since March 28, 2014, and changed its name to Singapore Institute of Technology (Singapore Institute of Technology). ).

Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS)

It was in 2016 that SUSS was upgraded to the sixth public university in Singapore on October 12, 2016.

After becoming a public university, SUSS teaching focuses on cultivating talents infields such as social sciences and applies education. The university proides applied courses for students and adults focusing on social science sibjects such as social work, pre-school education, personnel management, law, etc. But will also retain courses in accounting, engineering, etc.

In addition, there are more than 50 private colleges in Singapore that offer two kinds of programs:

Diploma programs without a degree and

Degree programs.

It includes two Australian government universities – Curtin University and James Cook University. Among them, degree courses are foreign university diplomas issued by cooperating with foreign universities.

Usually, courses are jointly organized with internationally renowned universities in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, so that students can have international-level diplomas without paying expensive tuition fees.

After students have completed the school’s courses in Singapore and passed the examinations for their majors in these countries to obtain a diploma, they can continue their studies in their alma mater in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.

Five prestigious private colleges include:

SIM Global Education,

Management Development Institute Singapore (MDIS),

East Asia School of Management (EASB),

PSB Academy Singapore (PSB ACADEMY) and

Kaplan.