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The percentage of foreign scholars breaking their bonds and leaving Singapore for good each year is a tightly kept ‘state secret’ for a long time, but a report published in a Chinese news portal may shed some light on it.
chinanews.com carried a feature in January this year on the plight of PRC scholars studying in Singapore who were left in limbo after the government halted its usual practice of sending them invitation letters to apply for Singapore PR upon graduation.
Without the letter, it is more difficult for these scholars to find a stable well-paying job in Singapore.
24 year old Dong Zhi Hong (董志鸿) graduated from Shenyang University in 2009 and came to study his Masters in Nanyang Technological University on a Singapore government scholarship which required him to work in Singapore for three years upon graduation.
Unfortunately, because of the abrupt change in policies, Mr Dong did not receive the PR invitation letter when he graduated in 2010 which left him without a proper ‘status’ for a period of time.
Speaking to chinanews.com, he said:
“About 50 percent of my schoolmates did not serve their bonds with the government and return to China. They won’t be coming back in the future either.”
(“大概50%的同学没有履行合约就回国了，未来他们也不特别想回来。”)
Mr Dong did not reveal if the bond-breakers were made to pay damages to the Singapore government like local scholars who broke bonds, but one thing for sure, they were not ‘shamed’ publicly as the shocking news was censored by the state media.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Law Ms Sim Ann revealed recently in Parliament that the Singapore government spends some $36 million dollars on scholarships to over two thousand students each year, or about S$174,000 per scholar.
Till today, nobody knows the number of foreign scholars who left Singapore for good each year either after serving their bonds or breaking their bonds halfway to do so.
With NUS PRC scholar Sun Xu being let off the ‘hook’ by NUS and allowed to graduate this year, he can simply return to China for good without serving his bond and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
chinanews.com carried a feature in January this year on the plight of PRC scholars studying in Singapore who were left in limbo after the government halted its usual practice of sending them invitation letters to apply for Singapore PR upon graduation.
Without the letter, it is more difficult for these scholars to find a stable well-paying job in Singapore.
24 year old Dong Zhi Hong (董志鸿) graduated from Shenyang University in 2009 and came to study his Masters in Nanyang Technological University on a Singapore government scholarship which required him to work in Singapore for three years upon graduation.
Unfortunately, because of the abrupt change in policies, Mr Dong did not receive the PR invitation letter when he graduated in 2010 which left him without a proper ‘status’ for a period of time.
Speaking to chinanews.com, he said:
“About 50 percent of my schoolmates did not serve their bonds with the government and return to China. They won’t be coming back in the future either.”
(“大概50%的同学没有履行合约就回国了，未来他们也不特别想回来。”)
Mr Dong did not reveal if the bond-breakers were made to pay damages to the Singapore government like local scholars who broke bonds, but one thing for sure, they were not ‘shamed’ publicly as the shocking news was censored by the state media.
Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education & Ministry of Law Ms Sim Ann revealed recently in Parliament that the Singapore government spends some $36 million dollars on scholarships to over two thousand students each year, or about S$174,000 per scholar.
Till today, nobody knows the number of foreign scholars who left Singapore for good each year either after serving their bonds or breaking their bonds halfway to do so.
With NUS PRC scholar Sun Xu being let off the ‘hook’ by NUS and allowed to graduate this year, he can simply return to China for good without serving his bond and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
