Nursing gains popularity
Published: 25 Jul 2017
More students are opting to take up the Bachelor of Science, Nursing degree programme at the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Nursing). The department received 2,200 applications in 2017, an increase from 1,730 applications two years ago. Of the 2,200 applicants, 940 of them had listed nursing as their first or second choice, up from 600 in 2015. About 16 per cent or 38 of the students taking up nursing in 2017 are male, compared with 10 per cent two years ago.
To cater to the higher demand, NUS Nursing has increased its intake of students from 155 in 2016, to 235 in 2017. It is looking to raise the number further to 300 over the next few years.
Professor Emily Ang, head of NUS Nursing, attributed the increased demand for the nursing degree to the changing public perception of the nursing profession. Another factor could be the competitive, if not slightly higher, starting salaries for nursing graduates.
The government plans to add 30,000 more healthcare workers including doctors who specialise in geriatric medicine and highly trained nurses who are able to helm clinics in primary and community health settings by 2020 to cater for Singapore’s ageing population.
Read the press release here.
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