HELTH & EDUCATION: National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore (Abbreviation: NUS) is one of the two largest public and autonomous universities in Singapore . Founded in 1905, it is the oldest higher learning institute in Singapore, as well as the largest university in the country in terms of student enrolment and curriculum offered. The mission of NUS is to become a research-intensive university with an entrepreneurial dimension.

NUS is consistently ranked as one of Asia's top universities by both UK ranking systems, the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. According to the latest 2015 QS World University Rankings, NUS is ranked 12th in the world and retained its position as 1st in Asia. NUS also fared well in the 2015-16 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, coming in 26th in the world and 1st in Asia. Alternatively, the ARWU ranking system published by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy that measures universities academic achievements and research performance consistently places NUS in the range of 100–150 worldwide and 1st in Singapore. Additionally, 2014's U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings. places NUS at 55th in the world. In 2015, The Economist ranked NUS Business School 2nd in Singapore and 87th globally.

.NUS's main campus is located in southwest Singapore at Kent Ridge, with an area of approximately 1.83 km2(0.71 sq mi). The Bukit Timah campus houses the Faculty of Law, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and research institutes, while the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore is located at the Outram campus

History

In September 1904, Tan Jiak Kim led a group of representatives of the Chinese and other non-European communities, and petitioned the Governor of the Straits Settlements, Sir John Anderson, to establish a medical school in Singapore. Tan, who was the first president of the Straits Chinese British Association, managed to raise 87,077 Straits dollars, of which the largest amount of $12,000 came from himself.[citation needed] On 3 July 1905, the medical school was founded, and was known as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School

In 1912, the medical school received an endowment of $120,000 from the King Edward VII Memorial Fund, started by Lim Boon Keng. Subsequently on 18 November 1913, the name of the school was changed to the King Edward VII Medical School. In 1921, it was again changed to the King Edward VII College of Medicine to reflect its academic status

In 1928, Raffles College was established to promote arts and social sciences at tertiary level for Malayan students.

Establishment of the university

Two decades later, Raffles College was merged with the King Edward VII College of Medicine to form the University of Malaya on 8 October 1949. The two institutions were merged to provide for the higher education needs of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore.

The growth of UM was very rapid during the first decade of its establishment and resulted in the setting up of two autonomous divisions in 1959, one located in Singapore and the other in Kuala Lumpur.

In 1960, the governments of then Federation of Malaya and Singapore indicated their desire to change the status of the divisions into that of a national university. Legislation was passed in 1961 establishing the former Kuala Lumpur division as the University of Malaya while the Singapore division was renamed the University of Singapore on 1 January 1962.

Present form

The National University of Singapore was formed with the merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University in 1980. This was done in part due to the government's desire to pool the two institutions' resources into a single, stronger entity, and promote English as Singapore's only main language. The original crest of Nanyang University with three intertwined rings was incorporated into the new coat-of-arms of NUS.

Today, the National University of Singapore has 16 faculties and schools across three campus locations in Singapore – Kent Ridge, Bukit Timah and Outram – and provides a broad-based curriculum underscored by multi-disciplinary courses and cross-faculty enrichment

Education

NUS has a semester-based modular system for conducting courses. It adopts features of the British system, such as small group teaching (tutorials) and the American system (course credits). Students may transfer between courses within their first two semesters, enrol in cross-faculty modules or take up electives from different faculties (compulsory for most degrees). Other cross-disciplinary initiatives study programmes include double-degree undergraduate degrees in Arts & Social Sciences and Engineering; Arts & Social Sciences and Law; Business and Engineering; and Business and Law..

NUS has 16 faculties and schools, including a Music Conservatory. Currently, it has seven overseas colleges at major entrepreneurial hubs in Shanghai and Beijing (China), Israel, India, Stockholm (Sweden), Silicon Valley and Bio Valley (US).

NUS Overseas Colleges

The NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) programme started in 2001. Participants of the programme spend 6–12 months overseas, taking internships and courses at partner Universities. There are seven colleges: the Silicon Valley, California, United States; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US; Shanghai, China, Beijing, China, Stockholm, Sweden, India and Israel

The local equivalent is the Innovative Local Enterprise Achiever Development (iLEAD) initiative, where students intern at innovative Singapore companies. This is a 7–8-month programme that cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset, and develops leadership and management skills.

NOC set up an entrepreneurial-themed residence, known as N-House. Located within the NUS Prince George's Park residence, this houses about 90 students, who are graduates of the NOC and iLEAD programmes. Entrepreneurial activities are also organised by the N-House residents, and these include entrepreneurial sharing sessions, business idea pitching and networking events.

University rankings

NUS has been ranked among the best in the world by two UK ranking systems, the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The QS World University Rankings 2015-16 ranked NUS 12th in the world and 1st in Asia, while the independent QS Asian University Rankings 2015 also considered it to be the first. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015–16 placed NUS at 26th in the world and 1st in Asia, while its 2014-15 reputation rankings placed it at 21st globally. Conversely, the ARWU that measures universities academic achievements and research performance placed NUS in the range of 101–150 worldwide and the best in Singapore in 2015.

In 2015, The Economist ranked NUS Business School as 87th globally and 2nd in Singapore, behind Nanyang Business School. In 2015, the Financial Times placed the NUS MBA at 31st in their global MBA ranking tables.

Entrepreneurship

NUS began its entrepreneurial education endeavours in the 1980s, with the setting up of the Centre for Management of Innovation and Technopreneurship in 1988. In 2001, this was renamed the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre (NEC), and became a division of NUS Enterprise. NEC is currently headed by Professor Wong Poh Kam and its activities are organised into 4 areas, including a business incubator, experiential education, entrepreneurship development, and entrepreneurship research.

Jointly organised by NUS Enterprise and National University of Singapore Society (NUSS), the Innovation and Enterprise Award consists of two portions – the NUS Outstanding Innovator Award and Promising NUS Start-Up Award. Both awards aim to recognise individuals and companies within the NUS community who have achieved significant accomplishments in entrepreneurship and innovation, or who have contributed to the development of entrepreneurship and innovation in Singapore in recent years. The 2014 winner of the 100.000 SGD award includes the NUS spin-off company AyoxxA Biosystems.

Nanospark is the entrepreneurship division of the NanoCore Nanotechnology Institute at the National University of Singapore. NanoSpark's primary role is to work with faculty, staff and students on obtaining financial support for technology commercialization. This work typically takes the form of a consulting relationship in which NanoSpark gets deeply involved in the writing of grant proposals and business plans and actively connects technology commercialization projects to grant organizations such as the SMART Innovation Centre, the National Research Foundation, SPRING Singapore, and to private angel and venture capital investors.

Faculties and schools

Arts and Social Sciences

FASS majors is organised into three divisions – Asian Studies, Humanities, and Social Sciences – under which 15 departments and programmes are grouped. It is also home to the Office of Programmes which offers four multidisciplinary programmes and five minor Programmes of study, and the Centre for Language Studies which teaches 12 different languages.

Business School

NUS Business School was founded as the Department of Business Administration in 1965. It has six departments: Accounting, Strategy and Policy, Decision Sciences, Finance, Management and Organisation, and Marketing.

Graduate programmes offered include the Master of Business Administration (MBA), NUS MBA Double Degree (conducted jointly with Peking University), UCLA-NUS Executive MBA Programme, Asia-Pacific Executive MBA (English and Chinese), S3 Asia MBA (conducted jointly with Fudan University and Korea University).

Computing

The School of Computing (SoC), established in 1998, has two departments – Computer Science and Information Systems. The department of Computer Science offers three undergraduate degree programmes – Computer Science, Information Systems, and Computational Biology.

Dentistry

The Faculty of Dentistry had its early beginnings in 1929 as a Department of Dentistry within the King Edward VII College of Medicine. It was the first dental school to be established in a British colony in the east. The faculty conducts a four-year dental course leading to the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) degree. The undergraduate programme comprises two pre-clinical (first two years) and two clinical years. The Faculty of Dentistry is organised into 3 academic departments covering the disciplines of Oral, and Maxillofacial Surgery, Preventive Dentistry and Restorative Dentistry.

Design and Environment

The School of Design and Environment (SDE) comprises three departments: Architecture, Building and Real Estate and a Division of Industrial Design. Degree courses in building and estate management were first offered in 1969 in the then Department of Building and Estate Management. This was subsequently changed to the School of Building and Real Estate. In June 2000, the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Real Estate changed its name to the School of Design & Environment. As a result of this change, Building and Real Estate were established as separate departments. QS world university rankings list its architecture school as 1st in Asia and 6th in the world

Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering (FOE) was launched in 1968. It is the largest faculty in the university. FOE consists of several divisions/departments. These divisions/departments are: Bioengineering; Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering; Civil & Environmental Engineering; Electrical & Computer Engineering; Engineering Science Programme; Industrial & Systems Engineering; Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Division of Engineering and Technology Management.

Law

The law school was first established as a Department of Law in the then University of Malaya in 1956. The first law students were admitted to the Bukit Timah campus of the university the following year. In 1977, the faculty shifted to the Kent Ridge campus, but in 2006 it relocated back to the Bukit Timah site.

Apart from the traditional LLB which runs for four years, the law school also offers double honours degrees in Business Administration & Law, Economics & Law, Law & Life Sciences, and a concurrent degree programme in Law & Public Policy. For graduate students, the law school offers coursework LLM specialisations in areas such as Corporate and Financial Services Law, Intellectual Property & Technology Law, International & Comparative Law, Maritime Law and Asian Legal Studies.

Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine was first established as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School in 1905. The School comprises departments such as the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Anaesthesia, Anatomy, Biochemistry, Diagnostic Radiology, Epidemiology and Public Health, Medicine, Microbiology, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology, Paediatrics, Pathology, Pharmacology, Physiology, Psychological Medicine, and Surgery. The School uses the British undergraduate medical system, offering a full-time undergraduate programme leading to the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS). For Nursing, the Bachelor of Science (Nursing) (conducted by the Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies) is offered. The department also offers post graduate Master of Nursing, Master of Science (Nursing) and Doctor of Philosophy programmes.

Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore

The Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore is a collaboration between Duke University in North Carolina, United States and the National University of Singapore. It follows the American model of post-baccalaureate medical education. Students begin their medical studies after earning a bachelor's degree. In tmhis way, Duke-NUS is able to offer an opportunity for students with the potential to excel in the field of medicine and biomedical sciences.

Science

The Faculty of Science (FOS) comprises the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics, Pharmacy, Physics and Statistics and Applied Probability.

Faculty of Science

NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering

NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS) was established in 2003. The principal purpose of NGS is "to promote integrative PhD research encompassing both laboratory work and coursework programmes which not only transcend traditional subject boundaries but also provides students with a depth of experience about science and the way it is carried out".

NGS’ PhD programmes are firmly anchored in cross-disciplinary research. It offers a spectrum of research areas, spanning science, engineering, related aspects of medicine, and interactive & digital media. NGS also offers the following PhD degree programmes.• Joint NUS-Imperial College Phd Programme • NUS PhD-MBA

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

The Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YSTCM) is a collaboration between NUS and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Singapore's first conservatory of music, YSTCM was founded as the Singapore Conservatory of Music in 2001. The School was renamed Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in recognition of a gift from the family of the late Dr Yong Loo Lin in memory of his daughter.

Residential colleges

NUS University Town

The NUS University Town (UTown) opened in August 2011. Located across the NUS Kent Ridge campus; this is where some 2,400 undergraduate students, 1,700 graduate students and 1,000 researchers will work, live, and learn in close proximity. There are four residential colleges, Cinnamon and Tembusu Colleges, College of Alice and Peter Tan, and Residencial College 4 - initially named Cinnamon, Tembusu, Angsana and Khaya, an Education Resource Centre and a Graduate Residence.

Cinnamon College

Cinnamon College houses the University Scholars Programme. The USP residential college will house 600 students and contain the administrative and faculty offices for USP and teaching classrooms.

USP students will take modules at the college and follow the current USP curriculum. They will be required to take eight multidisciplinary modules specially designed for USP students, including the Writing and Critical Thinking module and University Scholars Seminars. Students will have various options to fulfil their USP advanced curriculum requirements that include individual research with faculty mentors, and industrial and entrepreneurial attachments.

Tembusu College

Tembusu College is one of the first two Residential Colleges in University Town, a new extension to the main NUS campus at Kent Ridge. Tembusu houses mainly undergraduates, in addition to resident faculty, distinguished visiting scholars, and a few graduate fellows.

The College offers five multi-disciplinary modules fulfilling the "University-Level Requirements" (2 General Education modules, 2 Breadth modules, and 1 Singapore Studies module) which most NUS undergraduates must read to graduate. Students read the rest of their modules in their home faculties. A University Town Residential Programme Certificate is issued to eligible students along with the regular degree scroll. Students from non-modular faculties (i.e. Law, Medicine, and Dentistry) also belong to the College, but with course-work tailored to their specific programmes. The Rector of Tembusu College is Singapore's Ambassador-at-Large and former U.N. Ambassador Prof. Tommy Koh, who is also the former Dean of the NUS Faculty of Law.

Teaching centres

Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning

Centre for Instructional Technology which provides for the exploration, development and application of digital and audio-visual technologies to support and enhance teaching and learning. This is done through the NUS-developed Integrated Virtual Learning Environment and by developing new applications/services and incorporating multimedia content in courses for academia.

Centre for English Language Communication

Institute of Systems Science (ISS) which offers professional information technology continuing education to managers and IT practitioners.

NUS High School of Mathematics and Science

NUS High School of Mathematics and Science is a school specialising in math and science, and provides secondary and pre-tertiary education to many students with an inclination to these fields.

Research

Among the major research focuses at NUS are biomedical and life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, nanoscience and nanotechnology, materials science and engineering, infocommunication and infotechnology, humanities and social sciences, and defence-related research.

One of several niche research areas of strategic importance to Singapore being undertaken at NUS is bioengineering. Initiatives in this area include bioimaging, tissue engineering and tissue modulation. Another new field which holds much promise is nanoscience and nanotechnology. Apart from higher-performance but lower-maintenance materials for manufacturing, defence, transportation, space and environmental applications, this field also heralds the development of accelerated biotechnical applications in medicine, health care and agriculture

Research institutes and centres

Currently, NUS hosts 21 university-level research institutes and centres in various fields such as research on Asia, risk management, logistics, engineering sciences, mathematical sciences, biomedical and life sciences, nanotechnology to marine studies. Besides that, NUS also hosts three Research Centres of Excellence which are the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, Centre for Quantum Technologies and Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore – a partner in Singapore's fifth Research Centre of Excellence (RCE). Besides University-level RICs, NUS also has close affiliation with many National Research Centres / Institutes. A special mention is required for the Logistics Institute – Asia Pacific which is a collaborative effort between NUS and the Georgia Institute of Technology for research and education programmes in logistics.

Major research facilities

Comparative Medicine is set up to provide professional and technical service for laboratory animal care, veterinary medical services, and animal research project support for NUS staff and students.

National University Medical Institutes focuses its efforts on the development of centralised research facilities and services for the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in NUS and developing research programmes in cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Industry and external partnerships

The NUS Industry Liaison Office (ILO) manages the University’s technology transfer and promotes research collaborations with industry and partners. ILO manages NUS intellectual property, commercialises its intellectual assets and facilitates the spinning off of technologies into start-up companies. Ms Irene Cheong is the Director of ILO.

Some recent industry partnerships enabled by ILO include a research agreement with Agilent, a licensing agreement with Cambridge Display Technology (a Sumitomo Chemical Group company), and a partnership with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. NUS spin-off companies supported by ILO include BioMers, Gatekeeper Laboratories, Clearbridge BioMedics, Clearbridge VitalSigns, and BioLynx Technologies.

ILO has set up the Research to Market (R2M) portal, to showcase NUS technologies and engage with industry. Technology sectors include the life sciences, interactive digital media, physical sciences and multi-disciplinary technologies. Another activity organised by ILO is the Technology Commercialisation Forum(TCF), an annual event that brings together industry, academia, researchers, investors and entrepreneurs to examine trends and issues involved in commercialising technology. In 2012, ILO has collaborated with the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) to organise TCF concurrently with AUTM Asia.

ILO organises technology specific events, looking to facilitate technology commercialisation in industry sectors. TechLaunch is an event that focuses on technologies in the field of augmented reality, media search, image processing, gaming, language processing, web analysis and video processing.

NUS also has an external partnership with The Intern Group enabling students to complete an internship abroad.

Yale-NUS

Yale-NUS, also known as Yale NUS College, is a liberal arts college in Singapore which opened in August 2013, as a joint project of Yale University, and the National University of Singapore. It exists as an autonomous college within NUS, allowing it greater freedom to develop its own policies while tapping on the existing facilities and resources of the main university. Students who graduate receive a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) or a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from Yale-NUS College awarded by NUS.

Pericles Lewis, a former professor at Yale, was appointed as the founding president in 2012.

Campus facilities and resources

IT and computing services

The IT facilities and network are generally provided by its central IT department, Computer Centre. NUSNET is used in research, teaching, learning and administration. In 2004, a campus-wide grid computing network based on UD Grid MP was deployed, connecting at least 1,000 computers. This becomes one of the largest such virtual supercomputing facilities in the region.

NUS uses Internet 2 technology to make distance learning possible. Via Internet 2 videoconferencing, students from Singapore and MIT are able to learn and interact in one virtual classroom.

Library services

The NUS Libraries comprises 7 libraries, namely, the Central Library, the Chinese Library, the CJ Koh Law Library, the Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library, the Medical Library, the Music Library, and the Science Library. Its primary clients are the NUS and NUS-affiliated research institutes, students, teaching, research and administrative staff members, as well as a sizeable group of external members. Its collection encompasses subjects in architecture, building and real estate, business, dentistry, engineering, computer science, the humanities and social sciences, law, medicine, music, nursing and science. As of June 2010, there are close to 1.5 million unique titles, and 23,290 microform resources in the collection.

Student accommodation

There are about 6,000 residential places distributed between Halls of Residence and Student Residences on campus. There is a free Internal Shuttle Bus Service that plies the entire campus seven days a week.

Halls of residence

NUS has 6 Halls of Residence with about 3,000 residential places.

Kent Ridge Hall

The six Halls of Residence are:

Eusoff Hall (345 single rooms; 70 double rooms)
Kent Ridge Hall (507 single)
King Edward VII Hall (350 single; 60 double)
Raffles Hall (213 single; 128 double)
Sheares Hall (509 single)
Temasek Hall (345 single; 70 double)

Student residences

NUS also has 3 Student Residences for undergraduate students with clusters of 11 to 15 single rooms with their own kitchen and bathroom facilities. Kitchen and dining areas are equipped with basic cooking appliances. The newly built university town houses Graduate Residence for graduate students with the option of both apartments and single rooms.

The 3 Student Residences are:

Kuok Foundation House
Prince George's Park Residences
Ridge View Residences
Graduate Residences

Alumni

Since its inception in 1905, NUS has had many distinguished alumni, including 4 Singaporean Prime Ministers and presidents, 2 Malaysian Prime Ministers, politicians, judiciaries, business executives, educators and local celebrities. It counts among its graduates heads of states Abdul Razak Hussein, Benjamin Sheares, Goh Chok Tong, Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir Mohamad and S.R. Nathan. A number of its graduates are also notable politicians. Rais Yatim was Malaysia's Minister for Information, Communications and Culture. Ng Eng Hen is Singapore's current Minister of Defense.

Business leaders such as CEO of the Singapore Exchange and Singapore Tourism Board Chew Choon Seng, CEO of the Hyflux group Olivia Lum, CEO of the Temasek Holdings Ho Ching, CEO of SPRING Singapore Philip Yeo and CEO of Razer Inc Min-Liang Tan.

In international politics, the school has produced the Director General of World Health Organisation Margaret Chan, former President of United Nations Security Council, Kishore Mahbubani and S Jayakumar and Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee, Ng Ser Miang.

In Singapore's legal sector, NUS served as Singapore's only law school for half a century, until SMU was set up in 2007. Therefore, most of Singapore's judiciaries come from the school. This includes Singapore's Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, K. Shanmugam, the fourth Chief Justice of Singapore, Sundaresh Menon and the third Chief Justice of Singapore, Chan Sek Keong.

In academia, NUS boasts of its current President Tan Chorh Chuan, President Emeritus of Nanyang Technological University, Su Guaning, Former Vice-President of Finance for University of Virginia and Cornell University, Yoke San Reynolds and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, Wang Gungwu.