Currently, most Institute of Technical Education (ITE) Higher Nitec students who progress to polytechnic attain a net GPA of 2.5 and above, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said in a press release.

Hence, to ensure students can better cope with the academic rigour of a polytechnic education, the minimum entry requirements for such student to progress to polytechnics will be raised from GPA 2.0 to GPA 2.5, starting with the 2027 polytechnic intake.

Admission guaranteed for students who attain 3.5 and above

For students who attain 3.5 and above, they will be guaranteed admission into polytechnic.

This move will also begin with the 2027 intake.

MOE added that this is expected to benefit the top 10 per cent of Higher Nitec graduates, or around 1,000 students across all Higher Nitec courses.

Direct-Entry Scheme to Polytechnic Programme will end for 2028 ITE intake

The ministry also noted that currently, around 900 Direct-Entry Scheme to Polytechnic Programme (DPP) graduates per year across all 18 DPP courses qualify for the polytechnic progression guarantee.

With the removal of stream labels under Full Subject-Based Banding (Full SBB), the DPP pathway will thus cease from the 2028 ITE intake.

In addition, this removal means that admission requirements for direct entry into Year 2 for all Higher Nitec courses will be set at G2 from the 2028 intake.

This means that for a student to qualify for this entry, all of their secondary school subjects must either be G2 or G3.

G2 and G3 subjects are mapped from the existing Normal Academic and Express streams respectively.

MOE added that for students taking a combination of G3 and G2 subjects, they can apply for direct entry into Year 2 of Higher Nitec, as long as they obtain an aggregate score of 19 points or better for English Language, Mathematics and their best 3 Subjects (ELMAB3).

G3 subjects will be also mapped to G2 for the computation of the aggregate score.

Work-Study and Technical Diplomas also available

MOE also said that apart from the polytechnic diploma, all Higher Nitec graduates can continue to upgrade via the Work-Study Diploma (WSDip) and Technical Diploma (TD) pathways, which offer hands-on, apprenticeship-based training to equip students with "industry-relevant" skills.

Currently, 1,400 places are offered across both WSDip and TD pathways.

MOE added that this will grow to 1,800 places by 2025.

Top image from Institute of Technical Education website