31 July 2017

More Singapore students are opting to study nursing at the university. The National University of Singapore said it received 2,200 applicants this year for the nursing degree programme, an increase from 1,700 a couple of years ago. Almost a thousand of the applicants had listed nursing as their first or second choices.

Applicants to the NUS Bachelor of Science (Nursing) / Bachelor of Science (Nursing) (Honours) degree programmes require a H2 or HL pass in any two of the following at GCE ‘A’ Level or International Baccalaureate respectively: Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Physics, and Mathematics.

The NUS Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies has increased its intake of students from 155 last year to 235 this year, and it is expected to further increase the number of available places in the coming years.

Professor Emily Ang, head of NUS Nursing, attributed the increased demand to the changing public perception of the nursing profession — a career now increasingly perceived as fulfilling and challenging, with good competitive starting salaries.

The Singapore government plans to add 30,000 more healthcare workers to the workforce, including doctors who specialise in geriatric medicine.