National University of Singapore

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered.It offers a comprehensive range of disciplines ranging from architecture to medicine to music. The NUS student community comprises a cosmopolitan mix of over 32,000 students from 88 countries, contributing to a vibrant and thriving campus life. The university's main campus is located in southwest Singapore at Kent Ridge, with an area of approximately 1.5 km² (0.6 square miles). The Bukit Timah campus houses its law faculty, while the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore is located at Outram campus.

National University of Singapore

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 (credits). Students may transfer between courses within their first two semesters, enroll in cross-faculty modules or take up electives from different faculties. 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 offers 27 single-degree undergraduate and 115 masters, doctoral and graduate diploma programmes conducted by 13 faculties.

History

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. Tan, who was the first president of the Straits Chinese British Association, managed to raise $87,077, of which the largest amount of $12,000 came from himself. On 3 July 1905, the medical school was founded, and was known as the Straits and Federated Malay States Government Medical School. The medical library was first housed in the students' reading room within the school, converted from the vacant old female lunatic asylum in Sepoy Lines.

In 1912, the medical school received a donation of $120,000 from the King Edward VII Memorial Fund, started by Dr Lim Boon Keng. Subsequently on 18 November 1913, the name of the school was changed to the King Edward VII Medical School. In 1921, it was again changed to the King Edward VII College of Medicine to reflect its academic status.
In 1929, Raffles College was established to promote arts and social sciences at tertiary level for Singapore students.

Two decades later, Raffles College was merged with the King Edward VII College of Medicine to form the University of Malaya on 8 October 1949. The two highly respected institutions were merged to perform together an even greater service by providing for the higher education needs of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore and to help lay the foundations of a new nation by producing a generation of skilled and educated men.

In 1959, the University of Malaya was divided into two divisions, University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and University of Malaya in Singapore. The latter division formed 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 crest of Nanyang University with three intertwined rings was incorporated into the new coat-of-arms of NUS.

Research

Strategic research initiatives to help the university achieve its goal of knowledge creation include:Leveraging on available expertise to establish a base of research across a broad range of disciplinesBuilding peaks of research excellenceGrowing global research linksForging strong links between research and graduate education.

Among the major research focuses at NUS are biomedical and life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, nanoscience and nanotechnology, materials science and engineering, infocommunication and infotechnology, humanities and social sciences, and defence-related research.

One of several niche research areas of strategic importance to Singapore being undertaken at NUS is bioengineering. Initiatives in this area include bioimaging, tissue engineering and tissue modulation. Another new field which holds much promise is nanoscience and nanotechnology. Apart from higher-performance but lower-maintenance materials for manufacturing, defence, transportation, space and environmental applications, this field also heralds the development of accelerated biotechnical applications in medicine, health care and agriculture.

Research institutes/centres

The University’s research centres include:

• 13 national research institutes with which NUS has a close affiliation for niche research in areas of strategic importance to Singapore such as bioengineering, microelectronics and molecular & cell biology;
• 12 University-level research institutes/centres in various fields ranging from research on Asia, mathematical sciences, nanotechnology, risk management, synchrotron radiation to marine science; and
• 80 faculty-based research institutes/centres engaged in research ranging from applied & policy economics to electronic commerce to tissue engineering.

Faculties and Schools

NUS has 14 faculties and schools, including a music conservatory. Currently, it has five overseas colleges at major entrepreneurial hubs in Silicon Valley, Bio Valley, Shanghai, Stockholm and Bangalore.
The Faculties are:

Arts and Social Sciences
NUS Business School
NUS School of Computing
Dentistry
Design and Environment
Engineering
National University of Singapore Faculty of Law
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Science
University Scholars Programme
Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music
Graduate Schools
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore

NUS was ranked 30th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Rankings