MSc. in Food Science & Human Nutrition

All taught courses in the curriculum are delivered face-to-face and there are no recordings of lectures by default. Therefore, learners enrolled in this programme are expected to manage their commitments well and be able to attend all the scheduled classes punctually.

Please click here to view the coursework requirements for MSc. in Food Science and Human Nutrition by coursework, and here or visit NUSMods for the course descriptions.

Note: From August 2024, registration for FST5199B will only be opened in Sem 1 (i.e. August semester).

• A recognised Bachelor’s degree (with Honours or its equivalent) majoring in Food Science/Technology/Engineering and Nutrition; or
• A recognised Bachelor’s degree majoring in Food Science/Technology/Engineering and Nutrition with at least 2 years of relevant work experience; or
• A recognised Bachelor’s degree majoring in the following areas with at least 2 years of relevant work experience:
  • Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Chemical Engineering
  • Biochemical Engineering
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Agricultural Engineering
  • Agricultural Product Storage and Processing
  • Biotechnology
  • Biological Sciences
  • Pharmacy
  • Microbiology
  • Nutrition
  • Dietetics
  • Physiology
  • Agriculture and Horticulture

International students whose mother tongue is not English or whose tertiary education is not conducted in English must have a TOEFL score ≥ 85 (internet-based) or IELTS score ≥ 6.0.

Your application will only be processed for the respective intake accordingly, provided that the application was completed before the application closing date. You will be officially informed of the outcome of your application via email, latest as follows:

From AY2024/25 onwards, there is only one intake per academic year (i.e. August).

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”, “CHEN XIAO-MING”, 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.

Our programme accepts early admission for August 2025 intake, which will open from 16 May 2024 till 15 July 2024. Please refer to the “Application Procedures” tab above for more information on how to submit the application.

The early admission cycle (which takes place a few months before the regular application cycle) empowers you to make a choice early. It takes a simplified approach where minimally, the applicant is only required to submit the following documents online at the point of application:

1.  Transcript of undergraduate degree or at least five semesters’ record for current Year 3 undergraduate student.
2.  Student status letter indicating expected date of graduation (Note: You have to obtain the degree scroll/provisional certificate & final transcript by mid July of the admitting semester.  If your institution is only able to provide these documents after mid July, please apply for the subsequent intake instead.)
3.  Degree scroll (if applicable)
4.  CAP/GPA ranking certificate (if applicable)
5.  Resume
6.  At least one referee report (you only need to provide the referee’s email address and a link will be automatically generated and sent by the application system)

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

Only online application is required for early admission. Please note that if you are shortlisted, you will be contacted separately to supplement the full documents as per required for regular admission.

Applicants will be evaluated holistically and shortlisted on competitive basis, meaning that those who demonstrate excellence in various aspects will have higher chances of success in their application. Hence, if you already have the full supporting documents for regular application (e.g. passport information page, IELTS/TOEFL scores, documentary evidence of financial support), you are strongly encouraged to submit them in the Early Admission Cycle. You are also encouraged to provide details of the 2nd referee in the admission system if you have already identified the referee.

Both regular application fee (S$50) and acceptance fee (S$5450, inclusive of 9% GST) apply and they are non-refundable.

1. 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.

For graduating applicants applying to the August intake, you have to obtain the degree scroll/provisional certificate & final official transcript by mid July.  If your institution is only able to provide these documents after mid July, please apply for the subsequent intake instead.

2. 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: Minimum 85
• IELTS: Minimum 6.0

Please note that the TOEFL/IELTS scores are valid for two (2) years from the test date. If it has been more than 2 years since you last took the test, you must take the test again.

Please quote the following institutional codes and department codes for TOEFL:

• NUS Institutional Code: 9087
• Department Code: 99 (N.B. There is no specific department code for FST in TOEFL, 99 is a code for miscellaneous category).

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

3. Referee Reports

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

4. Documentary Proof of Financial Support

All applicants must upload documentary evidence of their ability to support their study (i.e. a bank statement), indicating the availability of funding of at least S$45,000 or its equivalent.

Applicants who are sponsored by an individual or organisation will need to upload 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 upload a copy of recent pay slip.

5. Citizenship Certificate/NRIC/Passport

For Singapore Citizens or PRs, please upload a scanned copy (front and reverse) of your Singapore NRIC or citizenship certificate/re-entry permit.

For applicants with Employment/Dependant Pass, please upload a copy of your Employment/Dependant Pass card and your passport information page.

For international applicants, please upload a copy of your passport information page.

6. Awards/Publication

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.

A non-refundable application fee is payable for each application. Application fees must be made online via the Graduate Admission System.

From AY2025/2026 intake – S$100.00 (inclusive of GST)

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.

IMPORTANT: Please note that any PayNow payments made outside of the Admission System will not be recognized or reflected in our records. Applicants are responsible for following the payment procedures outlined in the user guide. The University will not be responsible for tracing or refunding payments made incorrectly due to non-compliance with these instructions.

Students will need to pay an acceptance fee of $5,450 (inclusive of 9% GST from 2024) at the point of offer acceptance.

The acceptance fee will be counted towards the payment of tuition fees in the 1st semester. It is non-refundable and non-transferrable.

The University’s fees and charging models are reviewed and adjusted periodically to reflect the approximate cost of providing education to students. 

The full tuition fee for this 40-Unit programme before GST is $45,000 for AY2022/23 intake, and $48,000 for AY2023/24, AY2024/25, and AY2025/26 intakes.

Billing of Tuition Fees (for students of all nationalities from AY2024/25 and after)

Students will pay the tuition fees at equal installments over the first two semesters (for full-time students) and first four semesters (for part-time students). Prices shown below are for full-time students, inclusive of prevailing GST (7% before 1st Jan 2023, 8% from 1st Jan 2023 – 31 Dec 2023, 9% from 1st January 2024).

^ Fees for the 1st semester will be offset by the acceptance fee, which is paid at the point of offer acceptance.

Billing of Tuition Fees for Singaporeans and Singapore Permanent Residents (admitted in AY2023/2024 and earlier)

For Singaporean and Singapore Permanent Residents admitted in AY2023/24 and earlier, students are billed based on the number of Units read per semester. The cost of each unit is prorated based on the full tuition fee for the intake.

Rebates for Singaporeans, Singapore Permanent Residents, and NUS Alumni

Singaporeans, SPRs, and NUS Alumni enrolled from AY2023/24 to AY2025/26 who are not in receipt of scholarships, sponsorships, study awards, grants, bursaries or other types of financial assistance are entitled to tuition fee rebate for courses that are not covered by other subsidies. The rebate rates for the intake cohorts are as follows:

Note: The rebates are non-stackable. For example, students who are both Singaporean and NUS alumni can only enjoy rebate of 40% for the courses. Rebates are also not applicable for extra course(s) taken to replace/repeat previous course(s) with ‘F’ grade or replace previous course(s) with ‘W’ grade.

In addition to the Tuition fees, all students will be charged Miscellaneous Students Fees, which is billed on per semester basis.

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 and correct 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.