My son's UEC results has been pretty closed to top notch. He had applied to these 4 top Universities in Asia. That being Tsinghua U, Peking U (the top 2 best uni in China) and also Singapore's public NUS and NTU.

Fortunately for him, both Tsinghua U and Peking U had given him provisional admission, but currently the central government of China does not issue student visa to overseas students in their own combat with Covid.

As for the 2 Uni in Singapore, we will know it in Mar/Apr. My son's ex-teacher said he stands a good chance as the top science student from the high school.

Personally I ( and my side of family) feel China will give him bigger potential in future, but wife (and her side) thinks Singapore gives better "Stability". What do you guys think is the better ones ?

go singapore.

now with the covid its easier to go singapore than china in case of emergencies.

Better stay in Singapore for NTU and NUS than China.
but then can he cope everything in English?

Tsinghua actually teaches in English and Chinese dual language, quite international than I initially thought.

My son has his SPM, UEC, 1119 English with A score. Surely no problem la

Actually what he plans to study ?
well English Classes all International students with custom syllabus compared to the Mandarin Syllabus.


again PRC Chinese people with English accent, might be more difficult to understand. Unless the lecturer is an angmo.

NTU NUS atleast you can get local Singlish Malaysian accent if the lecturer is Singaporean la.

What course is he applying for?

Singapore is a better choice because the certificate is globally recognised while China's not. But it's dependent on what course he's going for.

Medicine? Engineering? Singapore is better. China isn't bad, just isn't better.

Higher education not only to train your professional skill, and also to broaden you mind of thinking. If I were given a chance again, I would go those can give me different culture places so that I can experience other than what I have now. If only Singapore and China to be chosen, I would definitely go to China.

where does he want to work? I think Singapore uni is more globally recognized than China uni even if China uni like Tsinghua is higher ranking than SG. I think main reason is even though courses in Tsinghua can be in English, but companies know SG high level of English proficiency. Also SG A-Level is much harder than UEC and UK A-Level. So sgreans get used to studying really hard. I have yet to encounter a Malaysia who gets first class honours in NUS. And gaokao I heard is even harder than SG A-Level. So you will face really stiff competition from China very best and brightest. If can afford, maybe study in Aus top uni? stress level lower. Because NUS and Tsinghua use bell curve. So u need to be top 3-7% to be first class. Aus as long as you score above 80% is first class. UK is above 70%. The proportion of first class in Aus/UK is higher. ard 10-15%

All elite uni. I don't know which one better.

But for the sake of environment/atmospheric experience, I will go China probably.

Ok, after much research and in contact with many friends and relatives we know, included Malaysian turned Singaporean, Malaysian professors working in China U, Malaysian businessman, Malaysian businessman returned from Shanghai and closed friends in China.

The conclusion is that both Tsinghua and NUS are great Uni to go. Either one won't go wrong. However, as China central govt does not issue any student visa right now, we have to hold our final decision until June / July.

If son does manage to go Beijing to attend the Tsinghua U, we would get him to complete his undergraduate in Tsinghua, and get a Master degree in NUS.

If he can't go Tsinghua due to Visa not available, then he shall study in NUS/NTU, get bonded to work in SG for 3 years then only try to get a Master degree in Tsinghua, hopefully.

NUS / NTU are actually ranked slightly higher than Tsinghua, as I read the details probably due to Tsinghua facilities for foreigners are not as comprehensive and got lower score on that aspect. But for post graduate education, Tsinghua commands high respect in academic circles apparently (among the professors).

Where would my son want to work, haha at age of 19 he is probably not certain yet. Of course as parent we would like him to work in China or Singapore, as they give better future than our own country to be honest.

Good choice.

Applied for 4 U, now we got the 3rd one sending in their offer.

Peking U, Tsinghua U, Nanyang Technological U Pending NUS

Wah, dilemma already. Wish I had 1 more son

This post has been edited by amdxp: Mar 3 2022, 09:39 AM

Whatever..
Singapore one is better...
More exposure & recognized by many countries

Engineering course.

Well, for Singapore he applied Civil Engineering - Environmental Engineering major for both the NUS & NTU. He got his first choice approved by NTU. For NUS, I think the admission or notification will come in next month. He did apply Computer Engineering as his second choice. Now wife & I actually hope he get this Computer Engineering from NUS.

As for Tsinghua U, he applied and admitted for Mechanical, Aerespace & Power Engineering faculty, where he get to choose his major after year 1. The major he can choose before Year 2 are Dept of Mechanical Eng, Dept of Precision Instrument, Dept of Energy & Power Eng, Dept Automotive Eng, Dept Industrial Eng, Dept of Aerospace Eng.

From my checking with friends and network in China, this particular faculty is the most sought-after for the locals and is the hottest in town. Therefore comparing Tsinghua and NTU, the course admitted by Tsinghua has much much better future to be honest. As I knew it from a friend, changing major in NTU and NUS is not permitted, so he will have to stick with Environmental Engineering.

Peking U is being sidelined for the time being, mainly because in term of Science courses, Tsinghua is the gold standard in China, or the MIT of China .

This post has been edited by amdxp: Mar 4 2022, 10:42 AM

Seriously ? environmental engineering???



This post has been edited by Username is for the weak: Mar 4 2022, 12:08 PM

Seems like very different courses he applied for, civil engineering as first, computer science as 2nd, and mechanical at other uni.

As a practising civil engineer, I can tell you university ranking really isn't something people care about. I can't say about other courses, but I was told university rankings play very little relevance anymore.

If he goes for precision or aerospace, your son likely will have to stay in China. This isn't a field that's hot in both Malaysia and Singapore.

As for civil engineering, it's very localised. Every country has different practices and different codes. If he studies in China, he'll likely stay in China. If he comes back to Malaysia or goes to Singapore, he'll have to adapt. Not a big deal, he won't be the first, but he must expect this phase.

In the end, nobody really put very heavy emphasis on university ranking. Singapore is full of Malaysian graduates from Malaysian universities that are ranked much lower than NUS and NTU, and it hasn't been a real issue so far. In fact, Singaporeans are complaining that local graduates are being discriminated against, with employers largely preferring to hire foreigners who would not need to pay CPF and would normally accept a lower salary than what the locals deem acceptable. That being said, graduating from higher-ranked universities have not been shown to be advantageous in terms of employability.

For example: in the recent tightening of Singapore's employment pass rules, Singapore's Manpower Minister said 'Instead, it is part of MOM’s regular updates to ensure that our qualifying salary keeps pace with local wage growth, so that foreigners are not coming in just because they are cheaper than local PMETs.'

If I were you, if all options are already very good, I wouldn't fret which is better in terms of ranking. If they're all good, I'll look at other factors - environment, cost, geography, weather, cost of living etc.

This post has been edited by Just Visiting By: Mar 4 2022, 07:13 PM

If you look closely at how TS replies you'd know he is not really here for answers

Yeah I've the feeling he's simply seeking agreement/validation and like he's looking for reasons so that his son's entering to a Singaporean university can be treated as a consolation to deal with the disappointment of not being enrolled into the Chinese university.

Nevertheless, I felt obliged to share. He could ignore everything I said if he wants.

seems like we are on the same page here

Eventually, i recommended to choose NUS/ NTU. So far, my experience with one of the top notch UEC science stream students from previous batches (May be no. 1 in Msia, as he scored full A1 with 4 science subjects as top 10). In the end, he chose to study in NUS without considering other universities.

My vote goes to Tsinghua/Peking U for China economy, science and technology are growing by leaps and bounds.

20 years before your son goes into retirement China's economy would be No. 1 in the world.

See how they turned other's (US) 4G technology/IP into huge and pioneering business in Ali baba, Tencent.

5G ??? bye bye the West.

Don't forget unrivalled moon landing and Mas exploration. Chinese space exploration scientists are 30-40 yo and US scientists are aging at 50-60 yo. Again, bye bye the West.

This post has been edited by zeng: Mar 5 2022, 06:04 AM

Not all identical courses are offered by the 4 Uni.

No he did not apply for pure civil engineering, but environmental. And for NUS their environmental engineering is a special one



And also not computer science that he applied for. It's CEG actually.

As an accounting professional myself, during my first job I did see better ranked Uni grad having 10-20% better pay. Than me actually. Maybe diff field is different.

No, for Tsinghua, also he is admitted to the broad aerospace faculty, he will choose Energy and Power engineering on year 2 as his major. If he ever goes there.

And lastly yes, we want him to venture outside of MY. Either China or SG is ok, but not MY. I am too fed up with the politics situation here.

See my reply on top, the environmental engineering from NUS is a special one. But I said we hope he gets computer engineering, haha greedy father.

And no, I am here for all the valuable pro and cons opinions, channel it down to my son and let him think through carefully and decide for his own future.

If UEC can get placement in Oxford or Cambridge I will not consider other options too. Haha, but for the 4 that he applied, I feel obliged to find out a bit more for him. Child at his age, with 2 years study from home in 2020 and 2021, they tend to get mature a bit slower than normal. What to do ?

I see
Here's my opinion after reading the modules offered in the environmental engineering.

First of all, a disclaimer. I studied mechanical engineering for my bachelors and chemical engineering for my masters, so i can only comment on the parts other than the digitalization of urban infra

Judging from their modules, i do not think the graduates are going to learn a lot about the engineering world. The modules sound rather surperficial,but i am not sure about the digitalization part thought If your son really wants to be a engineer that is exposed to the fundamentals of engineering and have a wider array of choice after graduation, i'd recommend the aerospace/energy engineering course The modules look very useful and comprehensive, but get prepared to be fucked, real hard

Lastly, your son needs to know that energy engineering is not the same as environmental engineering. i had to take the courses of both branches during my uni years, and the energy engineering is wayyyyyyyyyyy harder than the environmental


This post has been edited by Username is for the weak: Mar 6 2022, 08:14 PM

I believe in recent time, nus/ntu will be the best choices. China still open it's borders to outsider. Eventually, some of my students who are in the first or second year in China university all choose to withdrawn from the uni and restart elsewhere. This situation may not be corrected so fast as the cases are still in a worry situation.

This post has been edited by keenjoy1413: Mar 18 2022, 03:47 PM

Finally we picked NUS over the rest, and my son already started studying in Singapore since end July.

And thanks to Singapore / NUS, we got a full scholarship with good living allowances