Singapore Launches New Scholarship To Attract Young Talent
Home Affairs Uniformed Services (HUS) Scholarships Cum HOME Awards Presentation Ceremony 2010, Opening Speech by Mr. K. Shanmugam, Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs.
Scholarship and HOME Award recipients, Parents, Guests, Home Team colleagues:
First of all, I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to all our 2010 HUS Scholarship and HOME Award recipients.
Today marks an important milestone as you embark on this new chapter of your lives to be part of the Home Team family.
The Home Team’s mission is to safeguard Singapore, our home, and ensure that we have the peace and security for Singapore to develop and grow. To achieve that mission, the Home Team needs our fair share of talent; strong-spirited youths with the desire to serve and contribute to Singapore’s safety and security.
Your career with the Home Team will afford you with the opportunity to be at the forefront of our nation’s various safety and security challenges.
As Home Team officers, you will also help to shape our safety and security policies in response to an ever changing and more complex operating landscape.
To ensure that we continue to attract promising young people, I am pleased to announce that the Ministry of Home Affairs has introduced a new scholarship award, known as the Singapore Merit Scholarship (Home Uniformed Service) or SMS(HUS) this year.
With the introduction of the SMS(HUS), the Home Team now has 4 scholarship awards for undergraduate studies: The Singapore Police Force Overseas Scholarship (SPFOS), Singapore Merit Scholarship (SMS-HUS) and Singapore Government Scholarship (SGS-HUS) for overseas studies; and the Local Merit Scholarship (LMS-HUS) for local undergraduate studies.
The main difference between the SMS(HUS) and SGS(HUS) scholarship is that the SMS(HUS) is open to applicants who have undergone and done well in Officer Cadet School (OCS). Successful applicants will be appointed as regular officers and paid a monthly salary for the duration of their studies. Male SMS(HUS) recipients will also be disrupted from National Service to leave for studies one academic year earlier than their peers.
We are happy to announce that Mr Elton Yeo is the first recipient of the SMS(HUS) scholarship. Elton has done well in OCS and is currently a Company 2I/C in Basic Military Training Centre 3. Elton will be headed to the University of Pennsylvania in the United States to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Upon completion of his studies, he will be posted to the Singapore Police Force.
As for the SGS (HUS) and LMS(HUS) scholarship awards, MHA is pleased to announce that, we would be awarding 2 SGS(HUS) and LMS(HUS) scholarships this year.
Another first this year is that we would be awarding a mid-term LMS(HUS) scholarship. Ms Ong Ruo Cheng is currently a third year undergraduate reading Political Science at the National University of Singapore and has been found suitable for this award. She will join the Singapore Police Force upon her graduation.
In addition to awards for undergraduate studies, the Home Team also sponsors polytechnic students who are interested in a career with the Home Team. The Home Team Merit Award (Polytechnic), or HOME Award for short, was introduced last year. This award sponsors successful applicants for a 3-year full-time Diploma course in one of the 5 local Polytechnics.
The terms of this award are very attractive. In addition to all tuition and compulsory fees, the HOME Award also pays an attractive monthly allowance of $1000 and a semestral study bonus of $1200 to those who pass all exam modules for each semester.
We are pleased to note that the HOME Award is very well-received among parents and students alike. This year, MHA received a total of 620 applications. This is double the number of applications received last year.
I am happy to announce that 10 students will be receiving the HOME Award this year. Upon graduation, 4 of them will be joining the Singapore Police Force and 4 will be joining the Singapore Civil Defence Force; whilst the remaining 2 will be joining the Central Narcotics Bureau and Prisons Department respectively.
Beyond these awards for bright young students who aspire to join the Home Team, we will also be introducing new awards for our serving officers. Many of our younger officers with diploma qualifications, who joined us as Junior Officers, aspire to have a university degree.
With more diploma holders being recruited as Junior Officers and moving up in their careers, MHA will provide more academic upgrading opportunities for our officers. MHA will be implementing a new Full-Time Degree Sponsorship Programme.
This is in addition to our existing Continuous Education Programme, which today co-pays 50% of part-time degree course fees and our Home Affairs Learning and Opportunities (HALO) scheme introduced last year, which fully sponsors officers for their full-time degree courses in local Universities.
Under this new Full-Time Degree Sponsorship Programme, eligible officers will be given half pay leave to pursue their degree in any of the local universities, the Singapore Institute of Management or at overseas universities.
With these schemes in place, MHA targets to sponsor up to 20% of our annual Diploma entry Junior Officer cohort for a degree programme under these various schemes.
In closing, I would like to extend my thanks to the parents of our scholarship and HOME Award recipients for encouraging and supporting your children’s decision to take up the scholarship and join the Home Team.
I would also like to thank the principals and teachers who have guided the students in their career choice. We assure you that the Home Team is committed to their career development and growth.
To our scholarship and Home Award recipients, I am confident that all of you will make us proud, not only in your studies, but also in your service to the community and nation when you join us upon the completion of your studies.
Once again, my heartiest congratulations to all our scholarship and HOME Award recipients.
Thank you.
Topics: 2010, Asia, Cum HOME Awards Presentation Ceremony 2010, education, Governance, government, home affairs, Home Affairs Uniformed Services, HOME Award recipients, Home Team, Home Uniformed Service, HUS, K Shanmugam, law, moniter, monitor, news, Pacific, safety, security, shcolarship, Singapore, Singapore Merit Scholarship, soceity, speech
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