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No evidence here shows that Singapore has declared essays obsolete or that its universities are replacing them nationwide. The better-supported picture is narrower: assessment formats and AI rules can vary by learning objective, instructor and assignment. At the National University of Singapore (NUS), guidance says acknowledged AI use is permitted by default in unsupervised assessment, while instructors may restrict it when its use would undermine the learning goal.
What has Singapore actually changed about essays?
The claim that Singapore is making essays “dead” overstates what the available institutional sources establish. NUS guidance describes how instructors should decide whether AI is appropriate for an assessment; it does not announce a national move away from essays. A contribution hosted by NUS to the Higher Education Conference in Singapore on December 3, 2024, likewise argues for matching assessment format to the learning objective rather than prescribing one format for every course. NUS, “Rethinking Assessment in the Age of GenAI”
That distinction matters: changing how an essay is completed, supervised or assessed is not the same as abolishing essays. The evidence supports discussion of assessment redesign, not a verified nationwide replacement policy.
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Are universities still using essays?
The cited sources do not establish how widely essays are used across Singaporean universities, or whether their prevalence is changing. They do show why essays and other formats may serve different purposes. A take-home task can give students room to find and organize information; an in-person supervised test can be better suited to checking retention. The NUS-hosted conference contribution uses those as examples of aligning format with objective, not as evidence that one format is replacing another.
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For a particular course, the assignment brief is more useful than a broad claim about what “universities” are doing. It should say what work is expected, whether AI assistance is allowed, and whether disclosure is required.
Can a professor ban AI for a take-home assignment?
NUS guidance says instructors should decide whether AI use defeats or advances the assessment’s learning goal. It treats acknowledged AI use in unsupervised assessment as permitted by default. The policy also says that when AI is forbidden for pedagogical reasons, crucial parts of the assessment should take place in person under instructor supervision. For unsupervised work, it recommends designing tasks that require higher-order skills beyond what simple prompting can achieve. NUS Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, “Policy for Use of AI in Teaching and Learning”
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That is NUS guidance, not a rule for every Singapore institution. Students should check the instructions for their own course and assignment, including whether AI is allowed, what uses are permitted and how those uses must be acknowledged.
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These formats are not interchangeable: the appropriate choice depends on what an instructor needs to assess. The NUS guidance and conference contribution support distinctions around learning goals, supervision and AI rules; the comparison below describes those distinctions without claiming that every institution uses each format in the same way.
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| Format | Potential learning objective | Supervision and AI considerations |
|---|---|---|
| Supervised in-class test | Retention of course material, as in the NUS-hosted conference discussion | In-person supervision can be used for crucial assessment parts when AI is forbidden for pedagogical reasons, according to NUS guidance. |
| Take-home task or essay | Finding and organizing information, an example in the NUS-hosted conference discussion | NUS guidance treats acknowledged AI use in unsupervised assessment as permitted by default; the assignment may set specific rules. |
| Other assignment formats | Should be chosen to fit the stated learning goal | Rules and supervision depend on the course and task; the cited sources do not establish one Singapore-wide approach. |
Whatever the format, a useful question is whether grading is meant to evaluate the submitted result, the student’s reasoning and understanding, or both. That is a design choice; the cited institutional sources do not establish a single grading method across Singapore.
Can an AI detector prove a student cheated?
Under NUS policy, no: the verdicts of current AI-detection tools are not conclusive evidence in a disciplinary process and are not, on their own, justification to penalize a student’s work. The policy does not say that suspected misconduct cannot be investigated; it rejects detector output by itself as sufficient proof or grounds for a penalty. NUS Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, “Policy for Use of AI in Teaching and Learning”
What do course-specific rules look like?
A course document titled HL 2024 Approaches to Literature from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) illustrates how an instructor may distinguish between assignments: it specifies disclosure for permitted AI use and Google Docs version-history conditions for an assignment that excludes generative AI. This is an example tied to a particular course document and academic-year context, not evidence of a current university-wide NTU policy. NTU, “HL 2024 Approaches to Literature”
Read the instructions attached to your own assignment rather than assuming another course’s policy applies. If the rules are unclear, ask the instructor before using AI and retain any work history the assignment explicitly requires.
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Can AI write my essay?
Technically, AI tools can generate essay-like text, but whether you may use that text for a course submission depends on the rules for that assessment. NUS guidance distinguishes between unsupervised assessment, where acknowledged AI use is permitted by default under its policy, and assessments where an instructor restricts AI because it would undermine the learning objective. Do not treat that NUS approach as a blanket permission for every course or university.
The broader claim that Singapore is moving from traditional essays to presentations, oral defenses, in-class writing and staged submissions appears in the August 30, 2026 article that framed this topic. Those examples are not independently established as widespread practice by the cited official sources. Matthew Lynch, The Tech Edvocate, “Singapore’s Radical Move: Are Essays Dead in the Age of AI?”
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