Local universities in Singapore have been working to increase the number of master’s level programmes they offer and also the size of student intakes.
For example, the National University of Singapore (NUS) enrolled 5,100 students for masters degrees last year, which is around 7% more than in 2011. Approximately 50% of these students were local.
NUS added 11 master’s programmmes since 2011 and at the moment it has 114 programmes.
Singapore Management University had 12 master’s programmes in 2010, which it has increased to 21. It had an intake of 300 students in 2011 and the number increased to 700 in 2015. Singaporean Citizens and Permanent Residents comprised about one third of the intake.
Nanyang Technological University currently offers approximately 70 master’s programmes and had an intake of 1,700 students last year.
According to the universities, they have been adding programmes based on the skill gaps Singapore is facing and take into account strategic growth areas for the nation. Some of the recent degree areas added include:
- Chemistry for Energy and Environment.
- International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution.
- Translation and Interpretation.
- Human Capital Leadership.
- Applied Research in Social Sciences.
- Gerontology.
- Science in Innovation.
- Enterprise Business Analytics.