NUS College Receives Record 10,000 Applications for 400 Places

The huge demand reflects strong interest in liberal arts education amid global AI shift

- Sandra Davie

Even as Yale-NUS College graduating students and alumni lament the closure of their beloved institution in June, they can take heart from the fact that a liberal arts and sciences education is very much in demand among young people in Singapore.

This despite the worldwide shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) and computing degrees, alongside falling interest in liberal arts and general studies.

NUS College—built on the foundations of the Yale-NUS College and University Scholars Programme—received a record number of about 10,000 applications in 2025 for the 400 places it offers every year.

In 2022, when it opened for applications, 7,000 applied.

An NUS College spokesman said the incoming cohort along with the first three batches form a diverse community comprising more than 30 nationalities.

Of the 360 students who have already accepted places in the college for the coming academic year, starting in August, more than 30 are from local polytechnics.

The rest of the Singaporeans come from all junior colleges, as well as Millennia Institute, the Singapore Sports School, School of the Arts and NUS High School of Mathematics and Science.

The college said there is also diversity in the socio-economic backgrounds of the incoming students, with about 40 per cent of those who are Singaporeans eligible for needs-based bursaries, which are based on their household income.

The college offers a programme rooted in the interdisciplinary study and application of the natural sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities.

Students take the college modules concurrently with their main degree requirements and are expected to contribute actively to learning within the small class sizes of 20 to 25. They are also required to live for two years in the residential wings of the college.