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The University continues to receive global recognition in the year of review. In the annual Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asian University Rankings (AUR) released in May 2010, NUS was ranked third among Asia’s top 500 universities. This ranking is based on certain criteria such as the quality of research through citations and the proportion of international staff and students. In another study, “Bibliometric Profiles of Management Research at the Erasmus University 1999–2006” conducted by the Center for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands in October 2009, NUS was ranked 8th position – the only Asian university in the top 10 list.
At Faculty level, the NUS Business School obtained the European Quality Improvement System accreditation, placing the School on par with other premier business schools such as London Business School and Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. In the Eduniversal Global Top 100 Business Schools Rankings released in November 2009, the School was ranked first among other business schools in Asia, and awarded five palmes which signified the highest category attained. |
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In striving to nurture the next generation of thought leaders, a number of new multi-disciplinary programmes was established with leading overseas partners.
These programmes include the Joint NUS-Imperial College Ph.D. programme for Computing, Engineering, Science and Medical students; the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore’s new Ph.D. programme in Integrated Biology and Medicine; a new Master of Science in Nursing (Research) and Ph.D. programme in nursing; and the Ph.D. programme in Cancer Biology, offered by the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore.
To prepare a new generation of engineers to solve future challenges in engineering, the Faculty
of Engineering introduced the Design-Centric Curriculum. Innovative, flexible and cross-disciplinary, the Design-Centric Curriculum fosters creativity and helps students to develop better design skills. Students will focus on integrated thematic challenges such as Engineering in Medicine, Future Transportation Systems and Smart Sustainable Cities that place emphasis on multi-disciplinary teamwork.
As the pioneer of medical education, NUS is mindful of the need to constantly align its medical curricula with the needs of society. The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine has completed an extensive review of the medical curriculum, with the final phase of the new curriculum implemented in the upcoming Academic Year 2010/2011. The revised curriculum integrates the basic sciences with clinical practice, providing early clinical exposure, enhanced ambulatory and simulation training, internship and clinical competencies. The changes are also in line with our goal of nurturing compassionate graduates with inquiring minds and a lifelong learning habit as well as strong in clinical practice and academic medicine.
The upcoming University Town, to be opened in August 2011 with two Residential Colleges and a Graduate Residence, will offer students a transformative educational experience in a residential living environment. Prof John Richardson has been appointed Master of the residential college which will house the University Scholars Programme with Prof Wang Gungwu as Rector, whilst Assoc Prof Gregory Clancey will be Master of the second residential college with Prof Tommy Koh as Rector.
The success of a pilot trial on residential learning by the University Scholars Programme, using the Prince George’s Park Residences (PGPR), has opened up more such learning opportunities for students. In the new Academic Year 2010/2011, the pilot will be expanded to include more students while the second residential college will also run its pilot residential programme at PGPR. Classes conducted by the Writing Unit for students in this pilot programme will be opened to other NUS undergraduates. The development of the Undergraduate Seminars and Multi-disciplinary Modules at the second residential college has also made good progress. |
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For the last two years, Prof Navjot Sodhi (Faculty of Science) worked tirelessly on co-editing a book project entitled “Conservation Biology for All”.
This was no ordinary book project. It was a labour of selflessness, a response to the call of conservation scientists from the developing world, who lacked the economic means to access authoritative textbooks on biodiversity matters. Available free online from January 2011 by Oxford University Press, the book is an admirable and worthy effort from the conservation community who devoted many long hours to the project without any financial gain.
Similarly, Prof Sodhi’s passion and commitment to environmental conservation are clearly imparted in the courses he teaches. An authority on Conservation Biology and Environmental Management, Prof Sodhi recently received the Distinction in Teaching Award from Harvard University for his teaching stint during the 2009 spring semester as the Sarah and Daniel Hrdy Fellow in Conservation Biology, a prestigious fellowship awarded by Harvard.
Prof Sodhi taught an undergraduate course entitled Conservation Biology where he trained students to conduct comprehensive research on a tropical country, write succinctly and develop abilities to make public statements. This innovative exercise resulted in five letters being published in newspapers in Kenya, Indonesia, Jamaica, Colombia and Belize. Effective in generating enthusiasm among the students he taught at Harvard, Prof Sodhi received a resounding evaluation of an almost perfect score.
“The potential to think and learn is limitless,” said Prof Sodhi. “This achievement encourages me to use novel teaching methods such as debates and provocative write-ups to enable students to express opinions and think beyond their potential.” |
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