Singapore’s top students gunning for courses in hot sectors of analytics, food science and environment

INDICATIVE grade profiles at local universities suggest that Singapore’s brightest young minds have had a change of heart in their preferred education or career track, and are choosing courses that will lead to hot jobs in fields such as data science and environmental sustainability.

An analysis by The Business Times found recent batches of students less inclined than before towards accountancy, chemical engineering and aerospace engineering – all courses where prospective students once faced stiff competition for places. Courses related to data and analytics, however, are rising in popularity, as are those on the environment.

Going by A-Level grades, the bar to get into accountancy at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), for instance, has steadily declined to BBC/C last year, from AAA/B in 2012. (The first three grades are for H2 subjects and the fourth, for the H1 subject the students sat in the GCE Advanced Level examination.)