RECRUITING TALENT, DEVELOPING LEADERS

PSC Scholarships - A Gateway to Public Service Careers

The PSC awards full scholarships to outstanding young men and women who are committed to serving Singapore through a career in the Public Service. The PSC Scholarships are open to applicants at various points in their education journey and offer three main career paths – Public Administration, Professional Service and Uniformed Service. Depending on their preferred career pathway, successful applicants may be awarded the scholarship prior to their undergraduate studies, during their undergraduate studies (as a mid-term scholarship recipient) or after completing their undergraduate studies with no more than three years of working experience in the private or people sectors (as a master’s scholarship recipient). The multiple entry points have enabled the PSC to recruit scholarship holders with diverse perspectives and backgrounds. PSC scholarship holders study a variety of disciplines at established local and overseas universities and also take on different opportunities during their periods of study, adding to the diversity of the Public Service when they commence their careers.

Public Administration

Recipients of the PSC Scholarship or PSC Master’s Scholarship will take up a role in Public Administration. These recipients are not tied to a specific Ministry at the start of their scholarship journey and can be deployed across a variety of agencies after graduation. The Public Administration pathway provides scholarship holders the opportunity to develop as a leader and gain experience in multiple sectors of the Public Service.

In 2022, the PSC launched the inaugural Sustainability Scholarships, i.e. the PSC Scholarship (Sustainability) and PSC Master’s Scholarship (Sustainability). PSC Sustainability Scholarship recipients will build domain capabilities in sustainability and circularity and contribute to realising the vision of a sustainable and future-ready Singapore. These include work relating to the circular and green economy, coastal protection, biodiversity, urban heat issues and sustainable land use, to name a few. The PSC Sustainability Scholarships will be awarded from the 2023 selection exercise.

Professional Service

Some candidates have a clear focus and interest in the career path they wish to pursue. The Professional Service career pathway develops scholarship holders for a specific career in Engineering, Foreign Service, Legal Service, Medicine, Public Finance, or the Teaching Service. Recipients of these scholarships return to serve in the respective agencies linked to their scholarships and are guided and developed in line with their professional tracks.

Uniformed Service

The PSC also awards The Singapore Armed Forces Scholarship (SAFS) and The Singapore Police Force Scholarship (SPFS) to outstanding young men and women who respond to the call of defending the nation and are committed to maintaining peace and stability, and law and order in our country.

SAFS holders are systematically trained and developed to assume key command and staff appointments in the SAF while SPFS holders are groomed to lead the HomeTeam in upholding law, maintaining order and keeping peace in Singapore.

Identifying Talent

The PSC adopts a rigorous process to select scholarship holders. The Commission considers a range of information from multiple sources. These include the candidate’s personal statement, school report, Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) achievements, community involvement records, academic results and other notable achievements. The holistic assessment brings out key factors the PSC seeks in candidates, including leadership potential, resilience, diversity of experience, aptitude, and passion and fit for a Public Service career. The PSC has adopted a range of assessment tools, allowing the selection panel an insight into some of the non-intellectual, whole person traits of scholarship applicants. The PSC continually reviews its battery of assessment tools for scholarship selection and seeks improvements to it to ensure that the right talent is selected holistically.

The PSC provides updated information on the PSC Scholarships and Public Service careers to our stakeholders through regular meetings with school leaders, as well as information sessions for students and their parents. The PSC also values and works in close partnerships with schools, universities and self-help community groups to raise awareness of the PSC Scholarships across a diverse profile of candidates.

2022 PSC Scholarship Recipients

In 2022, the PSC took steps to cautiously resume in-person activities, holding its first physical PSC Scholarships Award Ceremony since 2019. The event, held on 20 July 2022, was graced by Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Education and Minister-in-Charge of the Public Service.

66 scholarship recipients proceeded for studies in 2022; 19 on the Public Administration track, 35 on the Professional Service track and 12 on the Uniformed Service Track (Table 2). Details of their course and country of studies are in Table 3 and Table 4 respectively.

President’s Scholarship

The PSC also awards the President’s Scholarship – widely regarded as Singapore’s most prestigious undergraduate scholarship. The President’s Scholarship is awarded on top of a public sector scholarship. It recognises individuals who have stood out among their cohort, demonstrating excellence in various pursuits. Recipients of the President’s Scholarship are dedicated to improving the lives of Singaporeans and exemplify the ethos of the Public Service.

In 2022, there were four recipients of the President’s Scholarship (Table 5).