500 dollars?

Refer someone to barclays capital and you get 5000.

Credit Suisse i think 1000 to 2000.

Incentives for referrals are common practice. And yes, the referral incentive itself seems low compared to market practice, but one must remember that this is not referring an actual job candidate who will contribute immediately, but a scholarship recipient who won't be contributing to the organisation for many years to come. So I can see why the referral fee would be lower.

However, what I don't understand is why the referral scheme is only open to present A*STAR Scholars. So if the clerk in A*STAR were to refer his relative/friend/etc who then successfully gets a scholarship, there is no referral incentive?

Don't you think a staff member who recommends a relative / friend / etc. is in a position of conflict ?

my dear...this is a common trend in the financial services sector

Haha now A*STAR also runs like a MLM.

Having such a referal scheme shows that they have a huge demand for A*STAR scholars not met. What happened man? Is it because students here don't refer research as a career anymore? I think that's the question we should be asking - what motivated them to introduce such a scheme?

Referral fees are a common practice in the corporate world to attract talents, cos word of mouth is supposed to be the best marketing channel. However, scholarships are supposed to be a natural magnet and it has its distinct "halo" on it, that it should naturally attract people (with good academic and CCA's) So I wonder why they need this extra push??

Because no one is interested.