MSc. or PhD. by Research

Please click here for more information on the programme structure and coursework requirement for the Graduate by Research Programmes.

In 2016, the NUS Suzhou Research Institute pioneered the “1+2+1” PhD program, which is a structured four-year curriculum with full scholarship support:

• Year 1: NUS
• Year 2 & 3: NUSRI Suzhou
• Year 4: NUS

Students will be awarded the PhD degree from NUS upon completion of the programme. Applicants may refer to this website for more information about NUSRI Suzhou.

In the online Graduate Admission System, please select “NUS (Suzhou) Research Institute” under the dropdown list for Research Institute/Centre in the “Current & Past NUS Application(s)” section.

If you have submitted the completed application (with all the required documents) before the respective application closing date, your application will be processed and you will be informed officially of the outcome of your application in writing latest as follows:

NOTE: Deadline will not be extended for applicants who apply at the last minute and fail to complete the submission of the application by the closing time. We also reserve the rights to reject applications that are filled up perfunctorily or missing majority of the supporting documents.

Applicants may apply for the degree programmes via the Graduate Admission System. Applicants are encouraged to refer to the User Guide before commencing the application. Please use a public domain email (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) to apply for our programme as our student portal do not accept primary personal email account with an educational institute or company domain.

Please fill in your name as per your passport/NRIC in the application form. For example, if your name is spelt as “CHEN, XIAOMING” in the passport/NRIC, please enter the full name as “CHEN Xiaoming” (Surname in CAPS and no comma in between).  Please do not enter “XIAOMING CHEN”, “CHENXIAOMING”, “CHEN.XIAOMING”, “CHEN, XIAOMING” or non-english characters in the application form.

Important: The University has not engaged any external agencies to undertake graduate student recruitment on its behalf. Candidates interested in our graduate programmes are advised to apply directly to the University and not through any agents. Candidates who apply through agents will not have any added advantage in gaining admission and the University reserves the right to reject such applications without giving reasons.

In order for applications to be considered for a specific intake, the online application, payment of application fees and supporting documents (in PDF format, and file name in English) must be uploaded by the relevant deadlines via the online Graduate Admission System. There is no need to post any printed form or documents for the department that you applied.

All supporting documents, if not in English, must be accompanied by copies of the English translation of the documents. Any omission of information required in the application or supporting documents will render the application void.

Candidates who wish to apply to more than one department must submit separate applications. Application fee will be charged for each application made.

Unless granted approval by our University, no candidate may concurrently be a student for more than one degree or register as an NUS candidate and of another university/institute.

Applicants are to refer to the Faculty Members section to view the research expertise of the potential advisors. Please note that Instructors and Senior Research Fellow are not eligible to act as advisors.

Applicants who wish to be considered for NUS-Administered Scholarships (See section on “Funding Opportunities and Fees” below) can only propose Assistant/Associate/Full Professor as their main advisor.

It is not compulsory to contact a faculty member before applying for the programme, but at minimum, applicants should indicate their preferred advisor and proposed research topic in the online application form.

1. Proof of Residence

Singapore NRIC or citizenship (for Singaporeans)
Singapore NRIC or Entry Permit (for Singapore Permanent Residents)
Employment Pass/ Work Permit (for International applicants working in Singapore)
Passport page bearing the passport number and other particulars (for non-Singaporeans)

For Singapore NRIC/Employment Pass/Work Permit, please scan both the front and the reverse sides.

2. Academic Qualification

For applicants who have graduated

• Softcopy of degree scroll, or official conferment/student status letter mentioning that you have met the graduation requirements (if the degree scroll is not available at the time of application)
• Final Official transcripts issued on or after the date of conferment
• Grade Point Certificate, Ranking Certificate, and Explanation of Grading System (if these information are not provided in the transcripts)

If the documents of your academic qualifications are also issued in other languages, please submit them along with the English version of the documents.

For applicants who are graduating

• Soft copy of a student status letter/enrolment certificate stating the duration of your programme and the expected date of your graduation
• Latest Official exam results/consolidated marksheet/ university transcripts (up till 7th semester results)
• Grade Point Certificate, Ranking Certificate, and Explanation of Grading System (if these information are not provided in the transcripts)

If the documents of your academic qualifications are also issued in other languages, please submit them along with the English version of the documents.

Please note the cut-off dates for providing the degree scroll/provisional certificate and final official transcripts below. If your institution is not able to provide these documents by the cut-off dates, please apply for the subsequent intake instead.

3. TOEFL/IELTS

Applicants whose native tongue AND medium of university instruction is not completely in English should submit the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as evidence of their proficiency in the English language.

TOEFL/ IELTS scores are valid for two (2) years from the test date. If the test has been taken more than two years ago, applicants should retake the test to have the scores reported.

We accept TOEFL iBT (Home Edition) and IELTS Online (Academic). Please note that IELTS Indicator is not a replacement for IELTS Academic Test.

For TOEFL, please quote our University code 9087 and department code 99.

4. GRE

Evidence of strong quantitative, verbal, and analytical skills through GRE scores will be assessed during our review process. Applicants are strongly encouraged to provide this document to strengthen their applications.

The minimum score requirement for GRE (General Test) is 320 for Verbal & Quantitative sections, and 3.5 for the Analytical section. GRE scores are valid for five (5) years from the test date. If the test was taken more than five years since, applicants should retake the test to have the scores reported.

We accept GRE General Test At Home Testing version.

Please quote our University code 0677 and the specific department code for FST 0107.

5. Referee Reports

Recommendations from two (2) academic referees are to be submitted via the Graduate Admission System. Applicants should check with their referees and obtain their institutional email address. Email addresses from domains other than “.edu” may be subjected to additional screening and filtering. Once the online application is submitted by the applicant, an automated email will be generated and sent to the referees.

The online referee report form is confidential and MUST be filled by the referees themselves. Applicants are not allowed to fill in the referee report form on behalf of the referees. Any non-compliance found will result in the immediate rejection of the application.

6. Publications and Awards

Please submit a copy of each of your publication(s) and supporting documents for awards, if any. The awards/publications should be merged in chronological order, from the most recent to the least recent.

7. CV

A summary of your education, work experience, co-curricular activities, community service, etc.

8. Research Proposal/Personal Statement

Applicants should submit a brief preliminary research proposal or a personal statement of not more than 1,000 words. The personal statement should describe succinctly your reasons for applying to the programme, your preparation for the field of study, future career plans, and other aspects of your background and interests that may help in the evaluation of your aptitude and motivation for graduate studies.

9. Documentary Proof of Financial Support

International applicants who are not applying for our Research Scholarship or have indicated their wish to be considered for admission in the event that their Research Scholarship application is unsuccessful, must submit documentary evidence of their ability to support their study (e.g. a bank statement) indicating the availability of funding of at least S$40,000 or its equivalent.

Applicants who are sponsored by an individual or organization will need to submit a letter from the sponsor with details/documentary proof of the sponsorship.

Those who are working in Singapore and applying for admission to our part-time programme may submit a copy of their recent pay slip.

A non-refundable application fee of S$50.00 inclusive of GST is payable for each application. Application fees must be made online via the Graduate Admission System.

Due to some incompatibility between AliPay and our new Graduate Admission System, applicants are advised to use VISA/Mastercard/AMEX/PayNow until the issues are resolved by our IT administrator.

Financial assistance for graduate students is available in the form of scholarships, tutorship, and various financial aid schemes.

Scholarships

There are many different types of graduate scholarships available in the university for graduate students. As these awards are highly competitive, they are only applicable to candidates applying for the PhD programme, and are given based on a track record of academic excellence. Most scholarships can be renewed annually subject to satisfactory academic progress. The list of scholarships applicable for PhD graduate students in FST are as follows, and details can be found here:

NUS-Administered Scholarships

• NUS Research Scholarship
• NUS Industry-Relevant Scholarship (Only on nomination basis)
• Faculty of Science Dean’s Graduate Fellowship (Only on nomination basis)
• President’s Graduate Fellowship (Only on nomination basis)
• NUS-SINGA Scholarship (Please concurrently refer to A*STAR’s website on the application procedures)
• NUS Suzhou Research Institute Scholarship (Only applicable to the NUSRI-affiliated PhD Programme)

External (Non-NUS) Scholarships

• Economic Development Board Industrial Postgraduate Programme
• A*STAR Graduate Scholarship

Graduate Tutorship-PhD Scheme (For AY2025/26 August Intake)

The Graduate Tutorship-PhD Scheme is open to exceptional Singapore Citizen/Singapore Permanent Resident candidates. Successful candidate will be regarded as a full-time NUS staff, while enrolled in the PhD programme on part-time basis. Candidates will receive a competitive monthly salary of $5,000 (+ CPF for Singapore Citizen) to work and a concurrent tuition fee subsidy to pursue PhD education.

As part of their academic training, graduate tutors will be required to complete 416 teaching assistantship hours during the term period, with workload arrangement of 4 hrs per week over 4 years*.

Applicants who are keen to be considered for the scheme should select “Research/Teaching Assistantship” under the Source of Finance section in the online Graduate Admission System.

*Arrangement of workload and total hours to commit are subjected to changes based on the prevailing policies.

Other Financial Aids

Other forms of financial aids include study loans and part-time work opportunities. The part-time work opportunities are for selected students who wish to gain research and teaching experience. Details of the schemes are set out here.

In considering part-time work arrangements, it should be noted that a high level of commitment is expected of all graduate students enrolled in full-time programmes, and the taking on of external part-time work to supplement personal income is not generally encouraged.

Fees

Fees which are due to the University will be deducted prior to crediting any financial aid (e.g. scholarship stipend/loan/remuneration) to the students’ account.

The full schedule of tuition and other fees can be found here.

The respective department will correspond with you primarily using email (food@nus.edu.sg) and the online status enquiry during the application period to convey messages such as requests for outstanding documents, interview notification, etc.

Hence, it is very important that you provide a valid email address and maintain your email account regularly. The University will not be responsible for undeliverable emails and their consequences.

Inaccurate, false information or omission of necessary supporting documents or no payment of application fee will render your application invalid. The University reserves the right to reject applications that are incomplete or inaccurate. Persons admitted on the basis of inaccurate or false information may be expelled.

Please refer to the Office of Students Affairs, International students section.

For further information, please refer to Faculty of Science – Graduate Programme

You may also direct your enquiries to Admin Officer at food@nus.edu.sg

Please note that the above information is only for reference. For the official information please visit Graduate Studies in NUS.