2019 PSC Scholarships Award Ceremony: Opening Address by Mr Lee Tzu Yang, Chairman, Public Service Commission

OPENING ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION,
MR LEE TZU YANG AT THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION SCHOLARSHIPS AWARD CEREMONY
ON 17 JULY 2019 AT PARKROYAL HOTEL, GRAND BALLROOM

Good afternoon.

Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister-in-charge of the Public Service
Mr Leo Yip, Head Civil Service
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

1.  Firstly, I would like to send my warmest congratulations to all scholarship recipients and their family, many of whom I know are present this evening. We also want to thank the teachers and principals for their tireless efforts in education, and also for working with the PSC in guiding the students on their career paths. I would like to also mention my fellow PSC members and the secretariat, for their time and energy input to the scholarship selection. Since coming into this role almost a year ago now, I have seen how committed my colleagues are to their responsibilities. The selection of scholarship recipients is an intense and long exercise, yet at every point we seek to improve.

2.  Although not a constitutional role of the PSC, scholarship selection helps us maintain alignment with the objectives of the Public Service. At its best, it forces us to re-examine how we achieve our desired outcomes through people. As I mentioned at a recent dialogue with Year 2 PSC Scholarship recipients, I have fallen in love with the public sector despite its imperfections. So we work together on transforming to be a first class Public Service, worthy of Singapore.

3.  This year, of the many thousands who applied for government scholarships, over 2,200 applied for PSC Scholarships. We will award 90 undergraduate and 3 postgraduate scholarships, making a total of 93 this year. The breadth and depth of talent is impressive in the young people we have seen. But as I’ve said before, a PSC Scholarship is an opportunity to serve the public, and we look beyond “smarts” for qualities like integrity, dedication to service and excellence.

4.  This year, we looked harder into more areas to seek potential talent. In addition to a wider range of schools, we worked with the polytechnics to encourage interest in a Public Service career. We have 9 scholarship recipients from polytechnics this year, the highest so far, and our scholarship recipients come from 17 different institutions in total, which is also highest. We have scholarship recipients from IP (Integrated Programme), non-IP schools, as well as IB (International Baccalaureate) backgrounds. Our newest junior college, Eunoia has 3 scholarship recipients in their very first graduating cohort, which is as many as our oldest - National Junior College.

5.  To achieve diversity requires us to select more effectively from a larger number of candidates. So PSC is looking into employing Game Based Assessment or GBA, as an additional tool. Validation exercises have been undertaken with our population, and we are likely to see this first be used this coming year. It will provide new dimensions not currently available from existing tools, and give perspectives on the diversity of candidates in those dimensions. By understanding the behaviour of candidates under different circumstances, we will be better able not just to understand individuals but also build teams. The experience so far is that GBA is fun, at least from those who have tried it out. It does not favour gamers; it does not penalise those with no gaming experience. And we will continue to look for ways to widen the selection process.

6.  This year, PSC has also been more directive in steering candidates to different courses and countries of study. Our strategic intent is to develop talent with diverse disciplines, different experiences and broader networks. While we continue to promote STEM and especially Engineering, we have a range of scholarship recipients in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. An increasing trend is to combine, if not joint degrees then adding a minor where the combination allows powerful synergistic design of approach to real world challenges.

7.  PSC is also promoting a wider range of countries of study through our scholarship offers. People’s Republic of China has drawn 8 scholarship recipients this year, of which 6 are undergraduates. 3 scholarship recipients will be proceeding to France for their studies, 2 awarded last year and 1 this year. So inevitably in this process, we have had to modify and re-channel the aspirations of some of our candidates, and in some cases we have had to turn down appeals but we take this considered approach in order to build our portfolio of talent.

8.  Of significance is the growing number of scholarship recipients who now choose Singapore. Our universities here in Singapore are now recognised as internationally competitive in a growing range of disciplines, and they provide local students exposure to more international students and faculty who are living here, as well as many exchange opportunities to immerse local students in different cultures. This year, 29 scholarship recipients will be studying in Singapore universities, which is the highest in 10 years. This will help develop networks of local peers and stakeholders for our future.

9.  In addition to the academic adventure of university, there are many ways to gain skills and experience of value in a Public Service career. PSC encourages its scholarship recipients to explore beyond the classroom, to engage the community, to understand people and their lives, both overseas and in Singapore. A gap year is increasingly being taken by scholarship recipients to work either in a private company or start-up venture or sometimes international institutions. We had a PSC Scholarship recipient work in UNESCO in Bangkok for 6 months on the Global Action Programme for Education for Sustainable Development. We had another PSC Scholarship recipient work 8 months in Beijing with Beijing Mobike, as a data strategist, advising city-level managers on managing pricing and incentives in their markets.

10.  PSC partners Youth Corps Singapore (YCS) for PSC Scholarship recipients to join the YCS Leaders Programme. Scholarship recipients studying overseas are able to work on Singapore-centric initiatives, to provide rich multi-perspectives and keep in touch with developments at home. As an example, 3 PSC Scholarship recipients in the United States worked with local frontline colleagues in Singapore to set up coding workshops for the community here. These attracted participants from the age of 8 to 80 years old to learn Scratch and Python, to write their first computer programmes. It is so successful that it is planned to continue this year.

11.  PSC Scholarship recipients will join our future Public Service, they will play key roles in bringing our nation and our people forward. So equipping yourselves with hard and soft skills can be through courses, choice of minors or summer programmes, but also through involvement with the community and long-term commitment to build understanding of how people change and develop.

12.  I will end here by saying congratulations again, I wish all scholarship recipients a meaningful journey and hope that, like me, you too will grow to love the Public Service. Thank you very much.