Singaporean Students Outnumbered, Drained Amid Intense International Competition

I just attended a career fair at NUS, and I was genuinely stunned by what I saw. The place seemed absolutely packed with international students from China and India, while Singaporeans felt like a minority in their own university. It honestly looked like only three out of every ten students I spoke to were locals.

The first thing I asked everyone was, “Where are you from?” If they weren’t Singaporean, I kept the conversation short and moved on. I simply felt that my time and attention were better spent speaking to local students and giving them more support.

One Singaporean student in particular stood out to me. He was looking for an internship, but he looked completely exhausted—stressed, burnt out, and almost devoid of enthusiasm. I asked him, “Are you okay? Do you feel like you need a break after graduation?” He nodded immediately.

You could almost see the exhaustion and hopelessness in his eyes. He looked defeated before his career had even properly begun.

I told him to scan the QR code so his application could be processed, and as he walked away, I couldn’t help thinking: is this really the version of “success” Singaporeans were promised? Is this really the future our young people are supposed to fight for, while facing increasingly intense competition from students coming in from all over the world?