When Mr Glenn Lim completed his full-time national service (NS) as a third sergeant in November 2006, he had more than eight months to wait before entering university.

He got busy by taking on two part-time jobs. He also began student life early by taking a special class at the Singapore Management University, where he started school proper in August 2007 as an economics and accounting major.

… Defence analyst Ho Shu Huang from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) says one possible benefit from cutting the full-time NS stint is the streamlined deployment of NSFs.