[August 14, 2011] Singapore universities to cap enrollment of foreign students Tweet SINGAPORE, Aug 14, 2011 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Singapore universities will add 2,000 more places for local students by 2015, while the foreign enrollment will be capped at present levels, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Sunday evening. Delivering his National Day Rally Speech, Lee said the measures aim to allay the concerns of the increasing competition from foreigners felt by local residents. "One unhappiness is the feeling that, maybe, foreign students have taken the place of locals in universities because our universities do take in a proportion of foreign students," he said. Lee's speech has been widely expected to address the concerns of the local population following the recent general election. The ruling People's Action Party, which has been running the city state since its independence in 1965, took 81 of the 87 seats in the parliament in the election. It won 60 percent of the popular vote, down by six percentage points. Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on Saturday said the lower share of popular vote was due to issues such as housing and transport. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said foreigners accounted for 18 percent of the students at local universities and that their admission did not come at the expense of local students. "I should say that these foreign students have not been at the expense of the local students because we have steadily increased the number of places for Singaporeans in our universities," he said. He said there were 9,000 spots for local students ten years ago at the universities. The number has increased by 3,000 this year and there will be an additional 2,000 places for local students by 2015. Lee Hsien Loong said the government will try its best to communicate with the people by making efforts including engaging the public more actively on the social media. While calling for Singaporeans to remain open to foreigners and warning against them turning xenophobic, he also announced that the government will tighten its policies on foreign labor and address the concerns of the local population by increasing the supply of government-built flats and raise the household income ceilings for such flats. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]