National University of Singapore

NUS has built up a sterling global reputation as an institution offering a holistic education that nurtures the talents of young people while equipping them with the skills to face the challenges ahead.

In the year of review, the University continued to maintain its international profile among top institutions worldwide. NUS emerged third in Asia and 27^th globally in the inaugural World Reputation Rankings published by Times Higher Education. Similarly, in the 2011 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking, the University was first in terms of employer reputation; second for academic reputation, international faculty and international students; and named among the top three universities in Asia. NUS also led the charge among the Asian universities in most of the disciplines in the inaugural QS World Ranking^® by Subjects.

At the faculty level, the NUS Business School came out tops in Singapore for the third year running in the Eduniversal 2010 Rankings, and ranked high among the top business schools globally. Its Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme was ranked 23^rd in the world in the Financial Times (FT) Global MBA 2011 Rankings. This is the highest FT ranking ever achieved by any Singapore MBA programme.

Thought Leadership in Asia
As a leading global university with an Asian perspective, NUS recognises that we play a pivotal role as a thought leader and preferred partner in this region. In the last Academic Year (AY) 2010/2011, our global partnerships were further strengthened with a number of programmes established with leading overseas partners.

NUS finalised a ground-breaking collaboration with Yale University to set up the Yale-NUS College, Singapore's first liberal arts college and the first with a full residential college model that integrates living and learning. The College, which will offer a model of liberal arts education that is unique to Asia, will admit its first students in 2013.

An agreement between the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and the Peabody Institute at The Johns Hopkins University will see the launch of the Joint Bachelor of Music Degree in AY2011/2012, the first international undergraduate conservatory music programme of its kind. The programme will allow students to attend classes in both Singapore and the United States.

The Duke-NUS partnership, which began in April 2005 with the establishment of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS), was further strengthened when both NUS and Duke University signed the Duke-NUS Phase II Agreement, extending our strategic collaboration in medical education and research.

At the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the Department of Geography inked an agreement with the University of Toronto (UoT) to establish two new joint minors: "Asian Geographies" for UoT students, and "Urban and Regional Change in North America" for NUS students.

The Faculty of Law is the first in Asia to partner the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the World Bank to offer prestigious fellowships for our law graduates to work at these esteemed institutions. From 2011, successful candidates can participate in the World Bank's Legal Associates Programme and Legal Internship Programme as well as the ICJ Programme, which allows the candidate to be placed in the chambers of one of the judges.

The NUS Business School launched the Centre for Strategic Leadership as the preferred learning partner of corporations and institutions on Asia's business and leadership know-how. The Centre also aims to be the definitive regional hub for executive dialogue between Asian and global business leaders.

Enriching Educational Experience
AY2010/2011 has been an eventful year as we continue to enrich our students' educational experience by creating more interesting and exciting avenues for both classroom-based and experiential learning.

Singapore's first ever Executive Master in Systems Engineering and Management was launched at the Faculty of Engineering with the aim of developing thought leaders in systems engineering. The programme is delivered through case studies allowing working professionals to apply systems thinking to provide clarity for decision making.

The Faculty of Law established Singapore's first clinical legal education programme after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Legal Aid Bureau. Under this collaboration, law students in their third or fourth year can take an elective course, where they will work with clinical instructors.

The NUS Business School is continually introducing new ways of enhancing its programmes. Its Advanced Management Programme participants were provided with touch-screen tablets, making NUS the first Asian university to harness this cutting-edge technology to enhance its executive education programme.

The School, together with NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering (NGS) launched the NUS PhD-MBA programme, aimed at training science and engineering students with the potential to create and lead technology companies. The students will develop their research skills via a PhD in a science and/or technology discipline at NGS, while developing business acumen through the MBA at the Business School. Internships in technology companies will then provide practical technology-business training.

Meanwhile, the Department of Pharmacy launched its first clinical pharmacy residency in collaboration with the National Cancer Centre Singapore, National University Hospital and Singapore General Hospital. This one-year Clinical Residency in Hematology/Oncology is among the first formal structured residency programmes outside the United States.

At the forefront of applying technology in the area of education, NUS joined iTunes University in August 2010, making it the first university in Singapore and Southeast Asia to leverage on the platform's capabilities. Other international top universities which are part of the iTunes University community include Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford and HEC Paris.

Besides new and interesting academic programmes, professorships play an important role in reinforcing academic excellence at NUS. In AY2010/2011, new professorships which were established include:

World of Opportunities
Our well-connected network literally opens a world of opportunities for our students through various overseas programmes. Based in a major regional business and financial hub, we recognise the need for our students to be endowed with a strong innovative spirit and robust entrepreneurial skills – vital attributes in an increasingly competitive global environment.

One major development in the year of review was the launch of the NUS Overseas College in Israel – the University's seventh overseas college in the world. It received an overwhelming response of 175 applicants for the first batch, five of whom were successfully placed in Israeli high-tech start-ups within Tel Aviv area from July 2011.

NUS Overseas Colleges is working closely with the highly-regarded Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel's first private institute for higher education, to provide mentorship for the interns as well as other programmes which include an innovation workshop and a course on digital media entrepreneurship. The interns were also introduced to the entrepreneurship development centre at Tel Aviv University, to increase their network of contacts in Tel Aviv and be involved in activities at Israel's largest university.

Our extensive range of overseas programmes was further enhanced with the launch of Study Trips for Engagement and EnRichment (STEER) to the Middle East. Twenty-five undergraduates visited Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December 2010 to learn more about these fast-evolving regions through classroom-based learning and experiential site visits. They collaborated with students from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and Zayed University on research into the economic policies and strategies of Singapore/Saudi Arabia and Singapore/UAE respectively, and presented their findings at the respective universities' campuses.

In AY2010/2011, a total of 1,454 NUS students embarked on various student exchange programmes. Exemplifying the "explorer" spirit, our students are increasingly venturing to new destinations, including Eastern Europe, Central America and Africa. Even as our students ventured abroad, the University hosted about 1,407 students from foreign universities under the exchange framework.

In the period of review, NUS signed 15 student exchange agreements, bringing the total number of NUS student exchange partners to 307.¹

Moving Ahead
In AY2011/2012, students can look forward to an array of new programmes that will enhance their learning experience.

Recognising the need to develop expertise and nurture young talents to better address the complex and inter-connected environmental issues faced by the world today, NUS will launch the Bachelor of Environmental Studies, its first ever inter-disciplinary undergraduate degree programme. This programme, anchored at the faculties of Science and Arts and Social Sciences and supported by the faculties of Engineering, Law, Design and Environment, Business, Medicine and Public Policy, will adopt new pedagogies in environmental education.

With its move to University Town, the University Scholars Programme now provides a living dimension to its students, as a residential college. It introduces a more structured curriculum as well as a new concluding high-level module, further reinforcing its curriculum foundation.

Following the successful pilot of the Freshmen Seminar and Writing Programme, another residential college at University Town offers their residents a multi-disciplinary academic programme comprising two modules on Ideas and Exposition. These modules will help students develop strategies for clear and impactful writing, sharpen their inquiry and critical reasoning skills and articulate their ideas on global-Asian issues.