The vision of a Singaporean medical school to train doctors was made real through the generous support of the local community. Over the years, our student intake has become more diverse and more closely reflects the socio-economic fabric of our society. While generalisations of these young men and women as academically outstanding are common, what is less known is the fact that one in six of our students today receive financial support to enable them to continue with their studies.
So it was with much gladness that we welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister during the National Day Rally in August, that government bursaries for the Medicine undergraduate programmes in local universities would be boosted from the next academic year. The good news meant that along with bursaries from the universities, needy students would pay tuition fees of at most $5,000 a year. This quote from the Prime Minister is noteworthy:
“We should not let the cost of medical school deter good students from studying medicine and becoming doctors. In fact, we want doctors to come from different segments of society, and have diverse educational and family backgrounds.”
Here at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, we do our best to ensure that our students are not deprived of a good education because of financial difficulties. Thanks to the Government and the generosity of donors, our financially disadvantaged students are given the peace of mind to focus on their studies.
In AY 2018/2019, the NUS medical school awarded a total of 68 student bursaries and scholarships to 216 students. Of these, 22 are established by alumni. We will continue to raise funds for student bursaries to ensure that we can help as many students as possible.
With the increased financial aid and the continued support of our donors, we are confident that we will be able to help more students who need financial assistance. And in this way, we continue to maintain NUS Medicine’s founding vision as a medical school made possible through the steadfast support of the community that it serves.
Happy reading!
Yap Seng