More places at universities welcomed, but parents fear the devaluation of a degree education

Following PM Lee's announcement at this year's National Day Rally that there would be more places for full-time applied degrees, with SIT and UniSIM becoming the fifth and sixth universities in Singapore. Students and parents interviewed by Zaobao welcomed the increase in the number of university places. However, they also expressed their concern that having too many university graduates in the market would then hamper employment prospects. Two student interviewees, from the Nanyang Polytechnic and Singapore Polytechnic were also supportive of the new measure. Nonetheless, both said they would still be inclined to apply for the three public-funded universities with a longer history, namely SMU, NUS and NTU.