The National University of Singapore (Abbreviation: NUS) is one of the three largest public and autonomous universities in Singapore. Founded in 1905, it is the oldest institute of higher learning (IHL) in Singapore, as well as the largest university in the country in terms of student enrolment and curriculum offered. NUS is a research-intensive, comprehensive university with an entrepreneurial dimension.
NUS is consistently ranked as one of Asia's top universities by both UK ranking systems, the QS World University Rankingsand the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. According to the latest 2015 QS World University Rankings, NUS is ranked 12th in the world and retained its position as 1st in Asia. NUS also fared well in the 2015-16 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, coming in 26th in the world and 1st in Asia. Alternatively, the ARWU ranking system published by the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy that measures universities academic achievements and research performance consistently places NUS in the range of 100–150 worldwide and 1st in Singapore. Additionally, 2014's U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings places NUS at 55th in the world.
NUS's main campus is located in south-west Singapore adjacent to Kent Ridge, with an area of 150 hectares (0.58 sq mi).The Bukit Timah campus houses the Faculty of Law, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and research institutes, while theDuke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore is located at the Outram campus.
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 Straits dollars, 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 Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School.
In 1912, the medical school received an endowment of $120,000 from the King Edward VII Memorial Fund, started by 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 1928,Raffles College was established to promote arts and social sciences at tertiary level for Malayan students.
Establishment of the university
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 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
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 only main language. 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, the 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.
NUS Overseas Colleges
NUS has a semester-based modular system for conducting courses. It adopts features of the British system, such as small groupteaching (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. Currently, it has seven overseas colleges at major entrepreneurial hubs in Shanghai and Beijing (China), Israel, India, Stockholm (Sweden), Silicon Valley and Bio Valley (US).
University Rankings
NUS has been ranked among the best in the world by two UK ranking systems, the QS World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
The QS World University Rankings 2015-16 ranked NUS 12th in the world and 1st in Asia, while the independent QS Asian University Rankings 2015 also considered it to be the first. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015–16 placed NUS at 26th in the world and 1st in Asia, while its 2014-15 reputation rankings placed it at 21st globally. Conversely, the ARWUwhich emphasizes the natural sciences as well as staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prizes and Fields Medal, placed NUS 101–150 worldwide and the best in Singapore in 2015.
In 2015, The Economist ranked NUS Business School as 87th globally and 2nd in Singapore, behind Nanyang Business School.In 2015, the Financial Times placed the NUS MBA at 31st in their global MBA ranking tables
Enterprenureship
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.
Jointly organised by NUS Enterprise and National University of Singapore Society (NUSS), the Innovation and Enterprise Award consists of two portions – the NUS Outstanding Innovator Award and Promising NUS Start-Up Award. Both awards aim to recognise individuals and companies within the NUS community who have achieved significant accomplishments in entrepreneurship and innovation, or who have contributed to the development of entrepreneurship and innovation in Singapore in recent years. The 2014 winner of the 100.000 SGD award includes the NUS spin-off company AyoxxA Biosystems.
Nanospark is the entrepreneurship division
of the NanoCore Nanotechnology Institute at the National University of Singapore. NanoSpark's primary role is to work with faculty, staff and students on obtaining financial support for technology commercialization. This work typically takes the form of a consulting relationship in which NanoSpark gets deeply involved in the writing of grant proposals and business plans and actively connects technology commercialization projects to grant organizations such as the SMART Innovation Centre, the National Research Foundation, SPRING Singapore, and to private angel and venture capital investorsE
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