Life in Singapore as a SINGA Scholar

Four years in Singapore, not a sandwich PhD

Official A*STAR Research describes SINGA as a full four-year stay in Singapore. The alternative A*STAR created later is ARAP: half the degree at a home university, half in Singapore. Do not mix the two. ARAP and SRAP live on the International Awards page and are nominated attachment schemes, not the SINGA PhD award.

The 2023 brochure frames the work as English-language PhD training in labs with world-class infrastructure, under supervisors at A*STAR and the universities. Biopolis is the biomedical hub A*STAR names for BMRC entities, while science and engineering institutes sit under SERC. Your daily campus is whichever host confers the degree.

ICA lists NUS, NTU, SMU, SIT, SUSS, and SUTD as local universities whose full-time internationals apply for a Student's Pass. Official procedure: ICA IHL page.

• Apply two to three months before the course starts, with the school's Registration Acknowledgement Letter.
• The processing fee is S$45.
• Documents not in English need an official translation: from the issuing country’s embassy or a notary public, or a private translation attested by the embassy or notarised. ICA does not endorse private translation companies.
• You do not need a Student's Pass if you already hold a valid Dependant's Pass, Long-Term Visit Pass, or Immigration Exemption Order.

Follow the host's student-services instructions and ICA's e-Service, not a paid “visa agent” who claims to represent A*STAR.

Housing and money on the ground

Official SINGA pages checked for this guide do not publish a rent figure or a recommended neighbourhood. Ask the host university's graduate housing office after you have an offer, and do not wire a deposit to a private listing before the university or a documented landlord confirms it.

This page will not invent a monthly cost-of-living number. Confirm the current stipend on A*STAR, then budget against the host's housing rates. ICA's S$45 fee is the only dollar figure this guide quotes here, because ICA publishes it.

English, coursework, and the city

Instruction and lab life are in English. The 2023 brochure requires written and spoken English and notes the usual coursework plus a thesis after the Qualifying Examination. Campus life (clubs, counselling, career offices) is a university service, not an A*STAR SINGA benefit listed on the pages checked here.

Immigration: ICA IHL and SOLAR+. Award questions: singa_enquiries@hq.a-star.edu.sg.