RECRUITING TALENT, DEVELOPING LEADERS

The PSC awards fully-funded scholarships to outstanding young men and women who are committed to serving Singapore through a career in the Public Service. PSC scholarship holders study various disciplines at established local and overseas universities, adding to the diversity of the Public Service when they commence their careers.

Identifying Talent

The PSC adopts a rigorous process to select scholarship holders. The Commission takes into account a range of information from multiple sources. These include the candidate’s personal statement, school report, psychological interview report, Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) achievements, Community Involvement Programme (CIP) records, academic results and other notable achievements. The holistic assessment brings out key factors the PSC is seeking to identify in candidates, including leadership potential, resilience, diversity of experience, aptitude and passion and fit for a Public Service career.

In 2019, the PSC started exploring game-based assessment (GBA) for use in the scholarship selection process, as part of its efforts to ensure that selection efforts remain relevant in meeting the changing needs of the Public Service. The GBA provides richer insights to applicants’ attributes such as perseverance, learning orientation and propensity for risk-taking.

The PSC also undertakes a broad outreach and communications plan each year to provide updated information on PSC scholarships and Public Service careers to our stakeholders through regular meetings with school teams, as well as information sessions for students and their parents.

PSC Scholarship Recipients who proceeded for Studies in 2019

The PSC scholarship offers three main career paths – Public Administration, Professional Service and Uniformed Service.

81 scholarship recipients proceeded for studies in 2019 ; 37 for Public Administration, 31 for Professional Service and 13 for Uniformed Service (Table 2). Details of the course of studies are in Table 3.

Public Administration

Recipients of the PSC Scholarship or PSC Master’s Scholarship will take up a role in Public Administration. These recipients are not bound to a specific Ministry at the onset of their scholarship journey and their deployment is decided upon their graduation. The Public Administration pathway provides scholarship holders the opportunity to develop as a generalist or specialist leader in the Public Service.

In 2019, 34 recipients of the undergraduate PSC Scholarships and three recipients of the PSC Master’s Scholarships proceeded for their studies (Table 4).

Professional Service

Some candidates have a clear focus and interest in the career path they wish to embark on. For them, the PSC offers career tracks such as Engineering, Foreign Service, Legal Service, Medicine, Public Finance, or Teaching Service under the Professional Service career pathway. Recipients on these schemes will return to serve in the respective agencies linked to their scholarships and are guided and developed in line with their professional tracks.

In 2019, 11 recipients of the PSC Scholarship (Engineering), three recipients of the PSC Scholarship (Foreign Service), six recipients of the PSC Scholarship (Legal Service), four recipients of the PSC Scholarship (Medicine), three recipients of the PSC Scholarship (Public Finance) and four recipients of the PSC Scholarship (Teaching Service) proceeded for their studies. The details are in Table 5.

Uniformed Service

Recipients who respond to the call of security and defence of the nation will set off on the pathway of Uniformed Service. The PSC awards The Singapore Armed Forces Scholarship (SAFS) and The Singapore Police Force Scholarship (SPFS) to outstanding young men and women who make the commitment to maintain peace and stability.

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

In 2019, there were nine recipients of the SAFS and four recipients of the SPFS who proceeded for their studies (Table 6).

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 another public sector scholarship. It recognises students who have set themselves apart from 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 2019, there were four recipients of the President’s Scholarship (Table 7).