Yusoffian featured in the press for securing place in Republic Polytechnic under Early Admission Exercise (EAE) - 20 September 2016

Terry Wong Yok Sheng has secured his place in Republic Polytechnic, even before sitting for his GCE O-Level Examination. He is looking forward to pursue the course Sports and Exercise Sciences and realising his dream of becoming a Physical Education teacher.

Of the approximate 8,000 applications that were received under the Early Admissions Exercise (EAE), 46% of the applicants convinced the polytechnics of their aptitude and interest in the courses they applied for, and were given conditional offers. They now need to meet minimum entry requirements to be enrolled into their courses of choice.

Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) & Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Defence Mr Ong Ye Kung revealed in his Facebook post on 18 September 2016 that the EAE introduced this year was part of the move to recognise a broader range of merits that is not narrowly defined as only academic achievements. Students’ aptitude, interests and skills were taken into account.

The five polytechnics can each admit up to 12.5% of their Academic Year intake through EAE. In selecting students, the polytechnics will take into account students’ abilities, strengths and interests in the specific courses that they have applied for. Students with other outstanding talents and achievements, such as in sports, arts, leadership, entrepreneurship and community service, may also be considered.

There is also a 50% course-level cap on students entering the polytechnic under the EAE for around a third of all polytechnic courses. This is to ensure that students admitted through the GCE O-Level Examination route will continue to have access to all polytechnic courses.

This year, a total of 3680 students were successful in their application through EAE and were given conditional offers into the course of their choice. This was an increase from last year’s Direct Polytechnic Admission, where only over 1200 applicants were successful.

Mr Ong also revealed that most applicants were offered places in courses such as Early Childhood, Mass Communication, Nursing, Visual Communications & Media Design, and Sports & Exercise Sciences, as interest and aptitude are essential ingredients for mastery of the skills required in these courses. In particular, Early Childhood and Nursing courses constituted 13.8% and 3.5% of EAE offers respectively.

Moreover, of those who received an EAE offer, 72% were offered their first-choice courses and more than 92% have accepted their offers.