Singapore Education

Pre-university

Pre-university education prepares students for further education in universities. After secondary education, students can opt to continue with pre-university education by applying for entry to a junior college (2-year pre-university course) or a centralised institute (3-year pre-university course), leading up to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level ("A" level) examinations at the end of the course.

To prepare students for the demands of the rapidly changing society, the curriculum framework has been revised in 2006. Content-based subjects (Humanities and the Arts, and Mathematics and Sciences) have been grouped into Higher 1 (H1), Higher 2 (H2) and Higher 3 (H3) levels.

H1 subjects contain half the content load of H2 subjects but are of the same academic standard. H2 subjects are equivalent to the standard of A Level subjects prior to 2006. H3 subjects contain more advanced content and provide students with a variety of wider learning opportunities.

With the new framework, students are required to offer Project Work, Mother Tongue Language and General Paper (or Knowledge and Inquiry), as well as 4 content-based subjects (3 H2 subjects and 1 H1 subject). At least 1 of the content-based subjects must be from a contrasting discipline.

Post-secondary education in Singapore normally refers to education in 3 types of institutes, namely Polytechnics, Institutes of Technical Education (ITE) or Universities. Polytechnics in Singapore offer 3-year diploma courses in a wide range of disciplines.

Students are accepted based on their "O" Level, "A" Level or ITE results. The top 10% of the graduates will have the opportunity to further their education in the universities. There are currently 5 Polytechnics in Singapore, namely Singapore Polytechnic (SP), Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), Temasek Polytechnic (TP), Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) and Republic Polytechnic (RP).

The Institute of Technical Education (ITE) provides its students with technical skills and knowledge that are relevant in the various industry sectors. Students are accepted based on their "O" Level and "N" Level results. Upon completion of the 2-year course, students will be awarded with the locally recognised "National ITE Certificate". There are currently 10 ITE campuses in Singapore.

Students who wish to pursue university education will usually follow the pre-university education path prior to entry into university.

There are currently 3 autonomous universities in Singapore providing a wide range of undergraduate and post-graduate degree programmes. They are National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU).

The government has also announced in 2007 that they are looking into setting up a fourth university to meet the growing demand.

Besides the autonomous universities listed above, Singapore also has many other privately run tertiary institutions offering other undergraduate and post-graduate education.