Frequently Asked Questions

The countries where PSC scholarship holders go for their undergraduate or postgraduate studies are varied and include Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. We encourage diversity and are happy to support our scholarship holders to study at good universities in other countries. We are open to discuss your choice of university and country of study with you.

PSC scholarships holders have attended universities for their undergraduate and postgraduate studies in countries such as:

• China - Fudan University, Peking University, Tsinghua University
• France - Ecole Normale Superieure, HEC Paris, Sciences Po, University Paris Sorbonne
• Germany - Freie University of BErlin, Hertie School of Governance
• Japan - The University of Tokyo, Waseda University
• Spain - Instituto de Empresa
• Sweden - Uppsala University
• Switzerland - ETH Zurich, The Graduate Institute of Geneva
• The Netherlands - Leiden University, Maastricht University, University of Amsterdam

No, PSC scholarship holders are encouraged to pursue their studies in a wide range of universities in different countries. We will be happy to discuss your choice of university with you.

The PSC (Public Finance) Scholarship is tenable for local or overseas studies. The courses of study supported under the scholarship include recommended disciplines such as Accounting, Analytics, Business, Business Administration, Business Management, Economics, and Finance.

The PSC Scholarship (Engineering) is meant to develop and groom individuals for leadership positions in the engineering and technology sectors in the Public Service. While you will enjoy flexibility in choosing your course, university and country of study (subject to approval), your decisions should be relevant to the career. Hence, you will be required to read an engineering or related discipline which complements your career choice, matching your skills acquired in university to your job type. You may refer to the list of supported courses by the various engineering clusters and parent agencies under the PSC Scholarship (Engineering). We will be happy to discuss with you on your preferred course of study.

PSC scholarship holders may pursue a wide range of courses. These include engineering, science and mathematics, accountancy, law, economics, philosophy, history, etc. It is more important for potential scholarship holders to understand the career they wish to pursue and how their courses would support their career journey.

Your course of study should be in an area relevant to the work of the Public Service. Some courses of study are niche in nature and of very limited relevance to the Public Service. In such cases, we might not support that course of study.

The PSC Master's Scholarship is not tenable for MBA programmes.

Applicants should apply to local and foreign universities on their own.

The PSC Scholarship (Engineering) is introduced in partnership with the three engineering clusters in the Public Service, namely the (i) Defence and Security, (ii) Information and Communications Technology & Smart Systems, and (iii) Infrastructure & Environment. Recipients under the PSC Scholarship (Engineering) will be required to read courses of study that complement their career choices. Some examples (non-exhaustive) of supported courses are:

For the Defence and Security cluster:

• Computer Engineering
• Electrical & Electronic Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

For the Information and Communications Technology & Smart Systems cluster:

• Business Analytics
• Computer Science
• Computer Engineering
• Information Systems & Communication

For the Infrastructure & Environment cluster:

• Civil Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

You may refer to the list of supported courses by the various engineering clusters and parent agencies under the PSC Scholarship (Engineering).

Scholarship holders are only able to pursue Medicine or Dentistry under the following two types of scholarships:

(1) PSC Scholarship (Medicine) or PSC Scholarship (Dentistry)

From the 2017 PSC Scholarships Selection exercise, the PSC Scholarship (Medicine) and PSC Scholarship (Dentistry) are offered to existing local medicine and dentistry undergraduates, who have completed at least one year of studies, including those who are currently pursuing the MD programme at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. The objective is to strengthen the pipeline for public healthcare and professional leadership.

(2) President's Scholarship

A very small number of full-term Medicine and Dentistry undergraduate scholarships will continue to be offered to those awarded the President's Scholarship, which allows full flexibility in the course of study both locally and overseas. In your PSC scholarship application, you should indicate your interest to read Medicine or Dentistry under the career and course preferences section. This would provide the interview panel a more accurate understanding of your academic and career preferences. If you do not obtain a place to study Medicine or Dentistry, you can still be considered for a PSC scholarship to read other courses.

Except for PSC Scholarship holders serving in the Legal Service, scholarship holders reading Law will not be called to the Bar while serving anywhere else in the Civil Service. Hence if you wish to practice Law after you graduate, you may wish to apply for the PSC Scholarship (Legal Service) where you will be tied to the Legal Service.

Those interested to read Medicine and who aspire to be clinician scientists may consider scholarships offered by A*STAR. Those aspiring to become military doctors may also consider scholarships offered by MINDEF such as the SAF Medicine Scholarship. Alternatively, you may also consider the pre-employment grant (PEG) for overseas medicine students offered by MOHH.