13 July 2017

Trends in education are changing. In the past, law used to be a popular course which only a small proportion of applicants could get in because of the limited number of places available at local universities. These days however, students appear to be losing interest in law. The courses of choice now are in the fields of computer science and computer engineering.

Figures recently provided by the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University have shown a drop in the number of students listing law as their first-choice course, of around 17 to 22 percent. Both universities are keeping their intake steady. This however does not mean it will be any easier to gain admission to the law faculty.

The decline in interest in law as a choice of study and as a career choice could be related to repeated comments made by Law Minister K. Shanmugam that Singapore was facing an oversupply of lawyers.

On the other hand, NUS has seen a 35 percent increase in the number of students listing computer science courses as their first choice.

Salaries of computer and information science graduates have seen a remarkable increase in recent years, outpacing other careers.