<< July - December 2005

16 NUS hosted the first Presidents’ Meeting of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) which officially launched an international platform for research and education that transcends disciplinary, cultural and geographical boundaries. The 10 participating members are some of the world’s top research-intensive universities, namely the Australian National University, ETH Zurich, Peking University, University of California (Berkeley), University of Cambridge, University of Copenhagen, University of Oxford, University of Tokyo, Yale University and NUS. Areas of collaboration the partners would be looking into are research into migration,energy, water management, the environment and aging.

17 Radio Pulze, the campus radio station, came on air on Valentine’s Day. A student initiative, it is run by the NUS Students Deejay Group with support from the Centre for Instructional Technology. It broadcasts live on weekdays from 12 noon to 2 pm, followed by non-stop music until 6 pm.

18 NUS together with the Council for the Advancement and Support for Education (CASE) jointly hosted the first CASE conference to be held in Asia. With the very topical theme of Expanding Horizons in Educational Advancement , the event attracted some 450 senior personnel from 30 countries and over 170 educational institutions.

19 The first NUS Arts Festival took off on the upbeat offering 100 events spread over seven weekends. The line-up included performances and workshops featuring music, drama, dance, film andthe visual arts. The Festival attracted a 30,000-strong audience.

20 NUS signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) that formally established the NUS College in Bangalore. The new college will be the fifth set up by the University to immerse students in the culture of some of the world’s most dynamic entrepreneurial hubs. Students at the Bangalore college, which is the first for graduate students, will work full-time in start-ups at Bangalore’s IT corridor while studying part time at IISc. The MOU signing was witnessed by the President ofIndia, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

21 The Guinness World Record Office officially gave its endorsement to the massive tee-off of golfers organised by NUS and NUSS (National University of Singapore Society) as a world record. More than 80 per cent of the 17,000 golfers who teed off simultaneously from 13 clubs all over the island, met the criteria set down by the Office for a one day event. Participants of the milestone event included the NUS community of alumni, students and staff and the wider golfing public.

22 NUS President, Professor Shih Choon Foong was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) as a Foreign Honorary Member. Prof Shih, a highly cited researcher (Institute of Scientific Information 2005) for his work on nonlinear fracture mechanics and the development of innovative computational methods for studying crack propagation, is the only Foreign Honorary Member to be inducted into the Engineering Sciencesand Technologies category this year.

23 NUS law students took top honours at the 4th Annual International Inter- University Intellectual Property Mooting Competition, held at Oriel College, Oxford University. It was a doublefeat for the team, emerging as winners at their first attempt at the highly prestigious competition.

24 NUS student, Reuben Ng, achieved a world first by being the first undergraduate to receive the Seisoh Sukemune/Bruce Bain Encouragement of Early Career Research Award. The award, presented by the International Council of Psychologists, is usually given out to PhD academics with at least five years of research experience. Reuben based his winning research paper on an internship with the Singapore Police Force that he took up while fulfilling an academic requirement under the University Scholars Programme.

25 The musical Man of Letters opened at the University Culture Centre to sold out performances. Commissioned as the University’s centennial gift to all its stakeholders and the public, it is a nostalgic time-piece set in the old Bukit Timah campus of the ’50s.

26 NUS together with Fudan University and Korean University celebrated their common centennial anniversaries with a collaborative agreement. The S3 (Singapore, Shanghai and Seoul) University Alliance aims to offer programmes that will achieve the distinction of being the best in Asia within 5 years and amongst the top five in the world in the next 10 years. Under the agreement, Korea University will focus on Asian MBA programmes, with NUS driving the Asian Financial Markets initiatives and Fudan University leading the Strategic Areas in Bioscience of particular importance to Asia. The signing took place at the Tri-University Colloquium co-hosted by the three universities in Seoul.

27 – 28 NUS honoured the legacies of the late Tan Sri Dr Tan Chin Tuan and Tan Sri Dr Lee Kong Chian in a dedication ceremony at University Hall. Singapore’s President and NUS Chancellor Mr S R Nathan did the honours by unveiling foundation stones raised in their memory. The two wings of the Hall have been named after the two philanthropists who through their foundations have donated a total of $59 million to the University in 2005.

 

<< July - December 2005