New college to have fewer international students

It plans to cut proportion in each cohort by half, to 20 per cent

- Ng Wei Kai

The new college formed from the merger of Yale-NUS and the NUS University Scholars Programme (USP) plans to cut the proportion of international students in each cohort by half to 20 per cent.

In a report seen by The Straits Times, a planning committee for the new institution – called NUS College – recommends admitting a total of 400 students for the first intake in August, of whom 80 will be international students.

That number will go up to 500 students a year, with one in five expected to be international students.

The report is dated this month and issued by a committee chaired by the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) senior deputy president and provost, Professor Ho Teck Hua.

It recommends that NUS College admit international students from at least 30 countries this year, with an emphasis on students from the Asean region.

Now, about 60 per cent of the Yale-NUS student body are made up of Singaporeans, while the rest are international students.