Development

Moulding Tomorrow’s Leaders

PSC Scholarship holders participate in a series of milestone programmes and developmental opportunities during their studies. These programmes help them develop a diverse set of experiences and prepare them to make impactful contributions.

2025 Preparatory Course

The annual Preparatory Course is designed to prepare new PSC Scholarship recipients for their academic journey while developing them as future leaders of the Singapore Public Service. The programme also provides them with a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges ahead for the Public Service. The 2025 Preparatory Course was conducted from 17 June to 2 July 2025 and included a three-day Outward Bound Singapore experience focused on enhancing self-awareness, leadership skills and team cohesion.

2025 PSC Scholarship Recipients on their Way to the Three-day Outward Bound Singapore Experience

The preparatory course also featured a site visit to Singapore Police Force Anti-Scam Command, a culinary workshop and a self-defence class to enhance the scholars' life skills and personal safety awareness.

2025 PSC Scholarship Recipients’ Site Visit to SPF’s Anti-Scam Command

2025 PSC Scholarship Recipients at the Culinary Workshop

2025 PSC Scholarship Recipients Picking Up Self-defence Skills

As part of the Preparatory Course, all scholarship recipients participated in the Youth Corps Leaders Programme (YCLP). The YCLP empowers participants to identify, plan and execute projects that address community issues and support a meaningful cause. In 2025, two YCLP projects were completed, both of which are highlighted in the following paragraphs.

(Left) Core Team of Project RISE; (Right) Volunteers Posing with Nagomi Artwork

Project RISE

Project RISE empowered 15 mentees at the Singapore Boys' Hostel by providing them with opportunities to develop important life skills through weekly sports and games sessions, craft activities, and field trips. By combining mentorship through sports with enriching experiences outside the hostel, Project RISE facilitated the mentees' reintegration into society post-hostel life.

xDreams

xDreams enhanced community outreach and engagement for =DREAMS, a pioneering boarding residence providing transformative learning opportunities for promising youths from disadvantaged backgrounds. Between 2023 and 2025, the team planned and executed strategic outreach initiatives aimed at connecting with prospective youths and their families. By facilitating community engagement events such as the =DREAMS Community Day and Movie Under the Stars screening, the team successfully drew over 200 participants to the campus, building greater awareness of =DREAMS' facilities and developmental programmes within the community.

Core Team of xDreams with =DREAMS Partners and Volunteers

2025 PSC Scholarship Holders’ Mid-Course Programme (PSMP)

The PSMP, held midway through a scholarship holder’s undergraduate studies, builds on the foundations laid in the Preparatory Course and the scholarship holder’s undergraduate experiences. The programme provides greater context to the realities of governance and highlights recent developments in Singapore. The PSMP includes a six-to-eight-week internship component with a government agency, where scholarship holders gain first-hand experience in the Public Service. 59 scholarship holders attended the PSMP held from 31 July to 6 August 2025.

Organised together with the PSMP, the Singapore Seminar (SingSem) on 29 July 2025 brought together scholarship holders from various public sector agencies under the theme “Navigating Singapore’s Future in a Changing World Order”. The forum explored Singapore’s evolving value proposition in a fragmenting world, our unique position at the intersection of multiple domains, and how we can strengthen our role as a trusted global node while building new capabilities for the future economy. It also aimed to broaden scholars’ appreciation of Singapore’s key developments and emerging challenges, and to deepen their understanding of the work and impact of the Public Service.

Mr Han Neng Hsiu, Dean and CEO of Civil Service College and Deputy Secretary (Leadership), Public Service Division and Secretary, Public Service Commission, Delivering the Opening Address

Mr I Naishad Kai-Ren Leading Scholars in a Discussion on how Singapore’s Social Compact Must Evolve to Address Demographic Shifts and Emerging Social Needs, and to Sustain a More Inclusive and Cohesive Society

Scholars’ Dialogue with Senior Minister of State Mr Zaqy Mohamad at SingSem

Diverse Experiences through Academic Programmes, Internships and Gap Year Programme

Scholarship holders are encouraged to actively seek out diverse experiences, particularly in areas of strategic interest to the Public Service, to complement their formal education and provide them with a broader worldview.

In 2025, PSC Scholarship holders took part in exchange programmes across a wide range of countries including Austria, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Qatar, South Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States to widen their horizons.

Beyond academic programmes, scholarship holders took part in internships outside of the Public Service. In 2025, these included placements with international organisations such as the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in China, as well as private sector firms such as the Goldman Sachs in Singapore and Blast AI in South Korea.

Scholarship holders also have the option to do a Gap Year either locally or overseas with international organisations, reputable non-governmental organisations and private companies. The experiences from these stints inject diversity into the Public Service's talent pipeline and help scholarship holders build up global networks. In 2025, scholarship holders did Gap Year programmes with the following organisations: Cornerstone Research (United States), Interpol (United States) and UNESCO (France).

2021 PSC Scholarship Holder Ms Aung Miri Yin-Toe (second from right) and 2018 PSC Scholarship (Teaching Service) Holder Mr Tan Ru Chuan Zane (far right) Hosting the Secretary General of INTERPOL, Mr Valdecy Urquiza, during his New York Visit to Brief the United Nations Security Council on Maritime Security

2019 President’s-cum-PSC Scholarship Holder Mr Muhammad Dhafer During His Gap Year With UNESCO, France, Where He Served as a Trainee at Indigenous and Local Knowledge (SC/EES/ILK), Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences Sector