Fewer undergraduate students in NUS’ Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences over the past 3 years

STEM employability and growth

In addition to changes in school structure, falling enrollment at FASS could also reflect entrenched perceptions that arts and social sciences qualifications lead to less secure or lucrative employment outcomes.

The NUS said students choose to take university programmes based on a combination of factors such as aptitude, interests and aspirations, along with considerations such as market demand and employment prospects.

Digital technology, driven by advances in artificial intelligence, is emerging as a megatrend and a game-changer that is transforming industries and economies, he added.

MP Patrick Tay, who chairs the Government’s Parliamentary Committee on Education, said the trend indicates more prospective students are opting for programmes that would improve their chances of landing a job after graduation.

He said Singapore’s economy has seen increased industrial needs for information and communications technology, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and vocational qualification programmes in recent years.

He added: “In the same vein, as interdisciplinary module options are becoming the norm, students on such programmes can also attend selected modules at FASS to enhance their knowledge or gain understanding in specific areas.”

More and more NUS students are choosing to attend other schools within NUS, said an NUS staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This includes the School of Computing, whose enrollment has skyrocketed from about 1,500 in 2014 to more than 5,000 students in 2024.

Job prospects are always on students’ minds, especially when choosing their major, said Teo Hsin Yeong, 23, a second-year FASS student.

The linguistics student, who is also studying theatre studies and Southeast Asian studies, said one of the reasons he chose linguistics over literature, aside from his aptitude and passion for the subject, was that it seemed clearer to employers what skills the degree would entail.

NTU second-year student Charles Toh said perceptions that STEM disciplines are more crucial to Singapore’s economy and offer greater job security and prospects have been amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic hit Singapore in 2020, when most university students were deciding what courses they wanted to pursue.

Toh, who is studying English and philosophy, said: “We hear a lot about layoffs and downsizing during the pandemic, and the feeling that it is easy to get a job after graduation no longer exists.”

The 21-year-old, who entered FASS but decided to go to NTU because he felt the programme had fewer common modules, said: “There are so many graduates now, it’s quite arbitrary and secondary to attributes like passion, interest and competence in the field.”