National Olympiad in Informatics

Reports by M. Nirmala and Alison de Souza

BOTH universities in Singapore are not too worried if medallists in the international science Olympiads choose not to accept the university places reserved for them.

There is a more important spin-off -- the offer will attract more students to do research and development, said Nanyang Technological University president Chan Tao Soon and National University of Singapore associate professor Bernard Tan.

They were commenting on the recent move to give any student who wins a medal in the international science Olympiads direct entry to the science and engineering courses of the two universities here.

Last year, three winners of the first National Science Talent Search Awards were also offered university places here.

One of them, Choy Dawen, 19, who was an Olympiad science gold medallist in 1995, did not accept the offer and is now studying physics at the Massachesetts Institute of Technology in the United States.

Six out of the nine gold medallists in the science Olympiads since 1989 have chosen to study abroad. Two, who are waiting for their A-level results, are also planning to go overseas. The remaining student is still in Raffles Junior College.

Dr Cham said: "There is no question that if you can win an Olympiad science medal, you can get enough points to enter the local university.

"The offer is more of a psychological assurance to winners that they don't need to worry about entering a university here. Singaporeans are very down-to-earth and often ask: 'What's in it for me?'".

And it might just persuade more medal-winners to enter either of the two universities, said NUS science faculty dean, Prof Tan.

Both believe, though, that students studying overseas is a good thing as it means a good mix of local and foreign-trained graduates in Singapore.

But they said that NUS and NTU undergraduates could now spend a semester or two at a foreign university.

Prof Tan said NUS had the programme to develop and hone the study, social and leadership skills of its bright students. He doubted if students could receive this same kind of close and individual attention overseas.

Three school principals and three teachers welcomed the direct-entry offer.

The principal of Raffles Girls' School, Mrs Carmee Lim, said: "It sends out the signal that you don't have to be so exam-orientated."

And Mrs Ng Guat Kew, a Victoria Junior College chemistry teacher who has helped four of her students win medals, said the offer would help teachers too. Some teachers were uncomfortable that students had to put in so much training for the Olympiads, worried that this might affect their chances for university places.

Some parents also welcomed the offer. The father of one medallist, Mr R. Lee, 47, a management consultant, said he, for one, would like his son to study in Singapore. His son, Benny Lee Kah Chong, 19, is now doing physics at London's Imperial College, on a Public Service Commission Overseas Merit Scholarship.

"Our local universities are as good as those overseas. I would also get to see my son more," said Mr Lee.

Five students interviewed thought the offer was a good idea, but nearly all of them said they still preferred to study abroad for the exposure.

When asked what else needs to be done to persuade them to study in NUS or NTU, they said the universities should build up their image. Or they should offer postgraduate scholarships abroad to those students who had completed their undergraduate degrees here, said Mr Lim Hong Khiang, a 26-year-old senior officer with the Economic Development Board. He won a bronze at the 1988 chemistry Olympiad and went on to study electrical engineering at Stanford in the US.

But he conceded: "It's a good place to start though, linking university places to winning medals."

The Straits Times
Tuesday, January 21, 1997