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National University of Singapore

Encyclopedia : N : NA : NAT : National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore (Abbreviation: NUS; Simplified Chinese: }}}; pinyin: ; Abbreviated 国大; Malay: Universiti Nasional Singapura; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் ேதசிய பல்கலைக்) is Singapore's oldest university, and remains the largest in the country in terms of student enrolment and curriculum offered. It is a comprehensive, research-intensive university and since 1 April 2006, has become a private university supported with Government subsidy through privatization.

The university's Kent Ridge campus is located in the southwest of the Republic of Singapore at Kent Ridge, bounded by the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), Clementi Road, Buona Vista Road and Kent Ridge Park, with an area of approximately 1.5 square kilometres. In 2005, it won the rights to operate in the Bukit Timah campus and plans to move its law school there by 2006. NUS also operates the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

NUS celebrated its 100th birthday in 2005. In celebration of this milestone, the university has been holding a year long centennial anniversary programme beginning 25 June 2005.

In the global arena, NUS has joined various international global partnerships and alliances including being a founding member of Universitas 21, current Chair of Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and International Alliance of Research Universities among many others.

Contents

History

The university traces its origins to the founding of The Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School in 1905, a realization of a dream by the city's founder, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, in 1823. Its name was changed to King Edward VII Medical School in 1912 and to King Edward VII College of Medicine in 1921.

In 1929, Raffles College was established to promote Arts and Social Sciences at tertiary level for Singapore students, and two decades later, was merged with the King Edward VII College of Medicine to form the University of Malaya on 8 October 1949.

In 1959, the University of Malaya was redivided into two divisions, University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and University of Malaya in Singapore. The latter division finally split to form the University of Singapore in 1962.

The present institution was formed with the merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University in 1980. The original symbol of Nanyang University was three intertwined rings and was therefore incorporated into the new coat of arms of NUS.

Faculties and schools

NUS currently has 13 faculties and schools, spread across the widest range of disciplines compared to any other Singapore educational institution. In addition, it has several teaching centres and four Overseas Colleges in various parts of the world.

Faculties

Arts and Social Sciences

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) is the largest faculty in the University. The current dean is Associate Professor Tan Tai Yong. FASS offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees (research and coursework) in a number of academic disciplines.

The faculty also offers a postgraduate degree programme in International Studies, and Minor programmes in China Studies, Cultural Studies, Economics, Gender Studies, English Studies, Religious Studies and Urban Studies. The Centre for Language Studies, which is part of FASS, offers introductory, intermediate and advanced courses on the Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese languages.

As of August 2005, there are 5,177 undergraduate and 1,038 postgraduate students in FASS.

Dentistry

Engineering

The Faculty of Engineering, the biggest faculty in NUS, was established in 1968.

Law

The Faculty of Law is staffed by a permanent faculty with law degrees from more than a dozen jurisdictions, and grooms Singapore's lawyers. It is currently located next to the Arts and Social Sciences and Business faculties, and will relocate to Bukit Timah in August 2006.

Students at the law school may study many subjects including Asian legal studies, banking and finance, biomedical law, commercial law, comparative law, corporate law, criminal law, intellectual property, international law, law and social justice, legal jurisprudence, legal process and skills, public law, and transportation law. The school has created a dual degree program with the New York University School of Law called NYU@NUS. This program will allow students to earn Master of Laws LL.M. degrees from both institutions.[[Citing sources citation needed]]

Articles from NUS faculty are published regularly in leading academic journals, including the Australian Law Journal, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, Cambridge Law Journal, Canadian Foreign Policy, Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts, Connecticut Journal of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Human Rights Quarterly, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, International Constitutional Law Journal, International Journal of Evidence and Proof, International Maritime and Commercial Law Yearbook, Journal of Business Law, Journal of Contract Law, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Journal of World Investment, Law Quarterly Review, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Legal Studies, Modern Law Review, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, New York Univesrity School of Law Law Review, Regent University Law Review, Restitution Law Review, Singapore Academy of Law Journal, Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, South African Law Journal, The Law Teacher, Torts Law Journal, Tort Law Review, and UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal.[[Citing sources citation needed]]

In the 2003/04 academic year, students in the Law Faculty came from 26 countries. In addition, the law school plays host each year to students from more than 20 student exchange partners, and sends about one third of its own third-year students on student exchange programs to destinations such as Canada, the United States of America, Australia, and China. Finally, the faculty was successful in international mooting competitions, such as the Phillip C. Jessup Cup and the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Competition.

Clubs in the Faculty
The Law Students' International Relations Committee (LSIRC) was set up in 1995 to encourage formal ties with legal fraternities of other countries through study trips and participation in overseas conferences. LSIRC is also the Singapore representative of the Asian Law Students’ Association. In June 2002, LSIRC organized the 14th ASEAN Law Students’ Conference.

The local chapter of the International Law Students’ Association is a recent addition to LSIRC and strives to aid the larger international cooperative. The local chapter also organizes the annual Regional Moot Friendlies. In 2004, NUS Law Faculty played host to the first Regional Moot Friendlies.[[Citing sources citation needed]] It fulfills an important role in preparing teams in the region for the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Re:Productions is the Law Club’s IT and Digital Video Society. Its annual film production for 2001/2002, Just Another Manic Monday, was supported by a grant from the Singapore Film Commission, and was screened at the 15th Singapore International Film Festival.[[Citing sources citation needed]]

Science

Schools

Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

NUS Business School

The NUS Business School (commonly known as the NUS Business School) was founded in 1965. It offers both undergraduate (BBA) and post-graduate (MBA, IMBA, EMBA, APEX MBA) programs. In 2003, the School was awarded accreditation by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), the first in ASEAN and one of only seven in the Asia-Pacific to be so accredited. Financial Times recently ranked the full-time MBA program at NUS Business School 92nd world-wide.

The school originated in 1961 when the Department of Economics at the then-University of Singapore introduced a Business Administration course. The Department of Business Administration was set up in 1965, and merged with the Department of Accountancy in 1969 to form the School of Accountancy and Business Adminisration. When the University of Singapore and Nanyang University were merged in 1980, the Faculty of Accountancy and Business Administration was established; it was split into the School of Accountancy and the School of Management in 1983. In 1987, the School of Accountancy was moved to Nanyang Technological Institute and the faculty renamed as the Faculty of Business Administration. In 2002, the Faculty of Business Administration was renamed to its present name—the School of Business.

The school has achieved the following rankings in recent years:

  1. Ranked Top 100 (#92) worldwide for its MBA programs by Financial Times (2006)
  2. Ranked Top 100 (#51) worldwide in a ranking of business schools' research by the University of Texas, Dallas (UTD) Top 100 Business School Research Rankings 2006. NUS Business School has been ranked No.7 worldwide outside the USA
  3. Ranked Top 30 worldwide for its EMBA programs by Financial Times (2005)
  4. Ranked Top 25 worldwide in The Times Higher Education Supplement (2005)

NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering

School of Computing

The School of Computing (SoC), established in 1998, offers (Honours) Bachelor of Computing degrees in Computational Biology, Computer Science, Information Systems, Electronic Commerce, Computer Engineering, and Communications and Media. In 2004, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the school 9th in IT and Engineering in its World University Rankings.

School of Design and Environment

University Scholars Programme

The University Scholars Programme (USP) is an initiative to encourage the university's undergraduate students to develop a more creative, intellectually-challenged, and interdisciplinary frame of mind. The four-year programme places them in much smaller, exclusive classes with greater emphasis on consultative and interactive modes of learning. These classes encompass multidisciplinary areas of interest unavailable under the normal programme requirements of majors from the various faculties. The programme also gives students the opportunity to undertake several Independent Study Modules (ISMs) which require research and development.

Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

Courses

There are in total 22 undergraduate courses and 114 graduate degrees/diplomas offered in NUS.

Research Centre

NUS hosts 13 national and 11 university research centers including the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMS). There are also 70 research institutes such as the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research and World Health Organization collaborating centres.

Teaching Centres

Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning

Centre for English Language Communication

Institute of Systems Science

The Institute of Systems Science is a speciality training institute that offers postgraduate degree programs, professional development short courses and certification training programs such as the Certified Information Technology Project Manager (CITPM) course to managers and IT practitioners. E-learning courses in topics such as IT Security and Object Oriented Analysis and Design are offered via its Virtual Institute.

NUS Entrepreneurship Centre

NUS Extension

Overseas colleges

The NUS Overseas Colleges program allows undergraduates with academic ability and entrepreneurial drive to work as interns in start-ups in different parts of the world, and study entrepreneurship-related courses at partner universities. The program aims to cultivate and nurture them into successful entrepreneurs.

NUS College in Bio Valley

The NUS College in Bio Valley (NCBV) was started in June 2002. It is located in Philadelphia. The NCBV program is for students interested in the biotech and biomedical areas. The pioneer group of 14 students joined the NCBV program in January 2003. The College accepts 30 students per year.

NUS College in Silicon Valley

The NUS College in Silicon Valley (NCSV), started in July 2001, is based in Silicon Valley, California. It is the first overseas college to be established. The College allows NUS students to experience living and working amongst the high tech communities of Silicon Valley. The pioneer group of 10 students joined the NCSV program in January 2002. The College accepts 50 students per year.

NUS College in Shanghai

The NUS College in Shanghai was established in Shanghai in August 2003, in collaboration with Fudan University. It accepted its first batch of 8 students in January 2004.

NUS College in Stockholm

The NUS College in Stockholm was set up in May 2005. Students in this program study at the Royal Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, or KTH).

NUS College in Bangalore

Internationalization

The University attempts to internationalize itself by building a global network through overseas colleges, teaching and research partnerships with other institutions, supporting international Student exchange programmes (SEP), and the establishment of alumni associations around the world.

As of 2005 the University has more than 140 SEP-partner universities in over 20 countries, most of which are in Asia, North America and Europe, and four Overseas Colleges (NOC) in Stockholm, Silicon Valley, Bio Valley (in Philadelphia), Bangalore and Shanghai.

NUS is the chairmember and secretariat of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities and a founding member of Universitas 21. In addition, NUS is a member of:

NUS is also a founding member of the IARU (International Alliance of Research Universities) with members including Australian National University, University of California Berkeley, University of Cambridge, University of Copenhagen, ETH Zurich, University of Oxford, Peking University, University of Tokyo and Yale University.

People

Student enrollment

NUS is the largest university in Singapore in terms of student enrolment. As of 30 September 2004, the total student population stands at 31,346, of which 22,751 are undergraduate students and 8,595 graduate students. Amongst graduate students, 4,112 are on coursework studies, while 4,483 are on research.

Students enrolled in NUS come from diverse backgrounds, with 8,600 international students from 77 countries studying in the university in 2004. It also hosted 730 international exchange students in the academic year of 2003-2004, and sent 540 of its own students abroad. In the same year, 95 of its students are hosted in four NUS Overseas Colleges.

Staff

NUS employed 6,655 staff members as of October 2004, of which 2,078 are faculty members, 1,153 are research staff, 870 administrative and professional staff, and the remaining 2,554 general staff. Amongst faculty members, academics from the ASEAN region, Australia, the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States dominate the sizeable pool of international staff members, although they are not evenly distributed across the university's faculties and schools.

Notable Alumni

Alumni from the King Edward VII College of Medicine/Raffles College era (1905 to 1949)

Alunni from the University of Malaya (Singapore) era (1949 to 1962) Alumni from the University of Singapore era (1962 to 1980) The National University of Singapore era (1980 - )

Campus

NUS's Kent Ridge campus has 6 libraries and 35 lecture theatres. 6 halls of residences and 3 student residences offer a total of over 6,000 students accommodation in campus. In addition, 4 museums, full facilities for the performing arts, sports and recreational facilities, and a satellite imagery receiving station are sited in the sprawling campus spread over a hilly terrain, with wireless internet access available campus-wide.

There are free internal shuttle bus services available with 6 different routes to cover the entire campus. It is also possible to go around the campus on foot with the signages available and a covered walkway easily identifiable by the yellow ceiling.

Libraries

C J Koh Law Library

The C J Koh Law Library was originally established in September 1957 as the Law Library, catering primarily to the Faculty of Law. On 1 January 2001, the Law Library was renamed the C J Koh Law Library, in appreciation of Mr Koh Choon Joo's generous donation to the library. The Library celebrated its official opening by the Honourable Chief Justice Yong Pung How on 27 February 2002.

The C J Koh Law Library collection development policy emphasises the acquisition of the complete primary resources of Singapore and Malaysia. The legal resources of the United Kingdom, United States of America, India, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also extensively acquired. Over the years, the library has developed collections on public international law, international business transactions, the laws of the European Community, the laws of the ASEAN nations, and the laws of the People's Republic of China. The library currently houses a unique title collection of 46,021 books and 4,394 periodicals. In addition, it has 65 CD-ROM titles. The law library also subscribes to an ever-growing collection of online legal resources which are available via the NUS Libraries’ portal. Major databases include Lexis.Com, Westlaw and HeinOnline.

Apart from basic library services, the C J Koh Law Library also offers:

Central Library

Chinese Library

Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library

Medical Library

Science Library

Museums

Lee Kong Chian Art Museum

Ng Eng Teng Gallery

South and Southeast Asian Gallery

Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research

The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) is a small private museum located in the Department of Biological Sciences showcasing over 500,000 samples of flora and fauna.

On 25 Janary 2006, it was announced that the world's smallest fish, Paedocypris progenetica had been discovered by RMBR ichthyologist Tan Heok Hui, together with Swiss researcher Maurice Kottelat. The discovery was reported by news media around the world. [More on Paedocypris progenetica] (with pictures) - Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, Singapore, 29 January 2006.

The RMBR's history begins with the setting up of the Raffles Museum in 1849, which had a natural history collection. The zoological collection, known as the "Raffles Collection", was so named as it was born out of an idea mooted by Singapore's founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, who was a keen biologist himself. The Herbarium collection was founded in 1955 by H. B. Gilliland, the head of the Department of Botany at the University of Singapore. The Department of Botany and Department of Zoology merged into the Department of Biological Sciences in 1996, combining the resources of both departments into one. The museum was thus formed on 1 October 1998, incorporating the collections and research materials of both institutions.

Accommodation

Halls of residence

Eusoff Hall

Eusoff Hall was founded as Eusoff College in 1958 at the Bukit Timah Campus of the University of Singapore. In 1988, the Nassim Wing of Eusoff College, under the leadership of Professor Andrew Tay, moved to the Kent Ridge Campus to establish Eusoff Hall.

Home to 485 students, Resident Fellows and the Master, Eusoff Hall is situated at the southern slope of the Kent Ridge Campus, close to the Arts & Social Sciences Faculty, the Law Faculty and the School of Business.

Kent Ridge Hall

Kent Ridge Hall has 506 single rooms, five guest rooms and one room for the handicapped, all of which are equipped with computer network, telephone and television points. Having just shifted to its new premises in December 2002, Kent Ridge Hall is now situated near the coast. Its spanking new compound presently boasts of dance and music studios with superb acoustics, an air-conditioned gym, a pool table and a multi-purpose air-conditioned hall. In addition, each block has its own rooftop courtyards, great for those who wish to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet.

Kent Ridge Hall is well-known for its cultural achievements. Residents can look forward to perofrmances by the hall's 6 performance groups, collectively known as the K6. They consist of the Rockers (Rock band), KRX (drama), KR Dancers, KR A Cappella, Choir and Inspire (songwriters). Many of these groups send representatives to clinch prestigious awards in national or tertiary competitions.

Kent Ridge Hall has been consistently ranked 3rd in the Inter-hall games held every academic year.

The Kent Ridge Hall website, as of 2006, can be found here: http://www.kentridge.nus.edu.sg.

King Edward VII Hall

Raffles Hall

The Raffles Hall crest.
Enlarge
The Raffles Hall crest.

[Raffles Hall website]

Raffles Hall has five residential blocks with 183 single rooms and 128 double rooms. It was founded in 1958 as one of the halls of the University of Singapore. Originally located in Nassim Road, Bukit Timah, the hall moved to the current NUS campus at Kent Ridge in 1984.

It has its roots in Raffles College, which was one of the institutes of higher learning that merged to eventually form the National University of Singapore. Although "Raffles" is a common name for many institutions and organisations in Singapore, Raffles Hall is in no way affiliated to any of them.

Hall crest
Double Headed Phoenix: One head represents the rich traditions of Raffles Family. The other head emulates the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes of the former Raffles College. Its black colour signifies the determination to rise again.
White Shield: Signifies the purity of youth.
Golden Luster: Accolade of the distinction conferred upon Sir Stamford Raffles, comprising the Eastern Crown and the Sword of Honour.
Tiger: Signifies boldness, courage and strength.
Red: Signifies the eagerness in spirit to serve the hall, university and country.

Hall Pledge
Together for Raffles Hall,
we pledge to our undivided loyalty,
committing ourselves to the call of the Raffles Spirit,
deriving strength to steer this Hall
to greater heights of excellence.

Famous alumni
Justice Tan Lee Meng, Judge of the Supreme Court Singapore; Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large Singapore

Sheares Hall

Sheares Hall has a capacity of 509 rooms across 5 blocks. Its famous alumni includes current Singapore President SR Nathan.

Temasek Hall

Student residences

Kuok Foundation House

Prince George’s Park Residences

Prince George’s Park Residences (PGPR) is the largest student residence. Its construction was completed in 2001. It is the terminal for all five lines of the NUS internal shuttle bus service.

PGPR has 3,000 rooms in 30 student blocks. There is also a Graduate Student Apartment block for graduate students.

Ridge View Residences

Off-campus

Gillman Heights

Off-Campus Accommodation System

Rankings and evaluation

See also

International linkages

References

External links

 

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