A Warm Welcome to Our Members and Fellows in Singapore
We are delighted to share this special newsletter highlighting the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s activity in Singapore, along with opportunities and news for our Singaporean membership.
We are proud of our long history of engagement with Singapore, and grateful for the ongoing support of our committed community of over 1000 Members and Fellows who champion the College amongst their colleagues, students, and wider professional networks.
An arrangement to deliver examinations in Singapore dates back to 1984, when the College signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Singaporean Ministry of Health. Since then, our conjoint examinations (Joint Specialty Fellowship (JSF)), governed in Singapore through the Joint Committee on Specialist Training (JCST), continue to develop and demonstrate the value of sustained collaboration in supporting internationally benchmarked standards of specialist surgical training and assessment.
We were delighted to appoint earlier this year Mr Ronnie Mathew as our new International Surgical Ambassador in Singapore. You can read about Ronnie’s background and connection to the College below.
We hope you find the stories and information in this edition both useful and engaging. We warmly encourage you to stay connected and share your own news and achievements with us.
Meet Your Local Representative
We are pleased to introduce our International Surgical Ambassador for Singapore. Our International Ambassadors serve as local College representatives, providing advice and support on RCSEd exams, courses, events and funding opportunities.
Mr Ronnie Mathew
Singapore International Surgical Ambassador
Ronnie Mathew is a Senior Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon based in Singapore. He has nearly 30 years of experience, including as a Consultant in the UK and internationally. He holds dual Specialist Registration accreditations in General Surgery from both the UK and Singapore.
Examinations
See below for the list of upcoming diets in Singapore for 2026.
For further information, please see our Exams Calendar.
Our History in Singapore
Last year, 36 new Members and Fellows joined us from Singapore. Looking back 100 years to 1926, there was only one, with only two in total for the period 1920-1929. The Triple Qualification (TQ) however, remained attractive to Asian students, with Set Chew Chee amongst 19 successful applicants for the same period. The flexibility and prestige of the qualification is something many students today will doubtless find familiar although coming to the UK to study, then as now, was not without its challenges.
Born in Singapore on January 24th 1902, Set Chew Chee began his medical career at King Edward VII Medical College in 1921, studying biology, chemistry, physics and anatomy before registering as a TQ student in 1924 after passing the preliminary examination on November 19th. He then departed for Scotland, where he trained in the “clinical clerkship” and “surgical dressership” elements of the course before splitting half of 1925 between the UK and Ireland, conducting maternity training at the Coombe Hospital in Dublin and dispensary training at Edinburgh’s Western Dispensary. He then returned to the Medical College in Singapore to complete the TQ requirements in gynaecology, clinical surgery, ophthalmology and paediatrics before the end of the year.
Returning to the UK for the final exam in July 1926, he was finally awarded his TQ, after two years of toing and froing across the globe. This, decades before air travel, in a journey that would have lasted several weeks, is thankfully now much easier – though students from South-East Asia today can doubtless relate to the rapidity of his training if not the length of his journeys to pursue them.
To discover more about Library services for Members and Fellows, please visit www.library.rcsed.ac.uk or email library@rcsed.ac.uk.
For further information on how the RCSEd International Postgraduate Deanery supports International Medical Graduates to continue their training in the UK, please visit International Postgraduate Deanery.
Funding & Awards Opportunities
The College proudly supports our international community through a number of funding opportunities, established to champion your continued education, training and career development, as well as supporting you in your research endeavours.
The portfolio of funding & awards opportunities has recently become even more accessible with a redesigned web portfolio which we hope will ensure that you can see and engage with all that is open to you.
We are proud to invite you to apply to the Pump Priming Grant in Cancer Research, and the James Weir Foundation Research Grants, each offering £10,000 as a catalyst for your innovation and scientific discovery.
To support you in your professional journey, the Coronation Commonwealth Bursary is currently open for applications, and provides up to £2000 for those from and living in, Commonwealth countries outside of UK, to access RCSEd courses and exams. For support in accessing other Professional Development opportunities, we welcome you to apply for the new Cheruvu Professional Development Grants, which seek to support individuals who wish to attend professional development opportunities inclusive of, but not limited to, observerships, International Postgraduate Deanery registration fees, conferences, lectures and CPD courses. Up to £1000 is available.
We encourage you to explore the full portfolio, and direct any questions to fundingopportunities@rcsed.ac.uk.