National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is an autonomous research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as a medical college, it is the oldest institute of higher learning (IHL) in Singapore, as well as the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered. NUS is a comprehensive research university with an entrepreneurial dimension. NUS offers a wide range of disciplines, including the sciences, medicine and dentistry, design and environment, law, arts and social sciences, engineering, and music in both undergraduate and postgraduate education. It counts amongst its alumni four Prime Ministers or Presidents of Singapore and two Prime Ministers of Malaysia.

NUS is ranked 1st in Singapore & the whole of Asia, and 22nd in the world by the 2018 Times Higher Education, and 15th in the world (2nd in Singapore) by the 2018 QS World University Rankings. NUS was named the world's 4th (first in Singapore) most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education.[6] In the 2016 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates' employability, NUS was ranked 15th in the world (first in Singapore). NUS is ranked 20th (first in Singapore) in the 2017 CWTS Leiden Ranking, a ranking of the scientific performance of more than 900 universities worldwide.

History

Evolution of the University of Malaya
Evolution of the University of Malaya.png
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.[10] 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 03 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 King Edward VII Memorial Fund, started by Lim Boon Keng. Subsequently, on 18 November 1913, the name of the school was changed to King Edward VII Medical School. In 1921, it was again changed to 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

University Cultural Centre
Two decades later, Raffles College was merged with King Edward VII College of Medicine to form 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

National University of Singapore Symphony Orchestra in Vienna (2013)
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 main language of education. The original crest of Nanyang University with three intertwined rings was incorporated into the new coat-of-arms of NUS.

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.

Today, 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.[citation needed]

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.

University rankinge

University rankings
Global
ARWU World
Times World
QS World
Regional
Times Asia
QS Asia
NUS has been ranked among the best in the Asia by two international ranking systems, the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The QS World University Rankings 2018 ranked NUS 15th in the world and 2nd in Asia.[19] The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2016–17 placed NUS at 24th in the world and 1st in Asia,[20] while its 2015–16 reputation rankings placed it at 24th globally.