NUS marks 110th anniversary and strong ties with China

2015 is a key year for Singapore, as the city-state celebrates its Golden Jubilee, the National University of Singapore marks the 110th year of its founding, and both China and Singapore commemorate 25 years of warm, deep and mutually beneficial diplomatic ties.

A leading global university ranked as Asia's top university in the 2015 QS World University Ranking, NUS is Singapore's flagship higher education institution. It offers a global approach to education and research, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise. Among its many illustrious alumni are five Singaporean presidents and prime ministers.

Its 16 schools across three campuses offer students a rigorous education with a broad-based curriculum. More than 70 percent of its undergraduates will have at least one study abroad opportunity at 300 leading universities in 50 countries.

The university's innovative research, through its faculties, three research centers of excellence and 26 university-level research institutes and centers, focuses on cutting-edge discoveries and their benefits to people in Asia and the world. The university is renowned for its research in engineering, science and technology, biomedical sciences, the humanities and social sciences.

"We are nurturing future-ready graduates, enhancing our research's translational impact and making NUS one of Asia's most vibrant university enterprise ecosystems," said Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, NUS president. "Our goal is to create distinctive value for Singapore, Asia, and the world."

Collaborations

NUS has strong, strategic collaborations with leading Chinese institutions, a result of the deep and longstanding bilateral ties.

The University has well established student exchange programs with 23 partner universities in China, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nanjing University and Xiamen University.

Among the partnerships with Chinese institutions is the Sino-Singapore Undergraduate Exchange Program, which provides Singaporean students with a global perspective and understanding of China, and similarly introduces Chinese students to aspects of Singapore life, education and culture.

The one-year NUS Master in Public Administration and Management program in Chinese, jointly offered by the NUS Business School and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, prepares students for senior management roles in the public sector. The 17-month Asia-Pacific Executive MBA, the world's first program of its kind that is taught in Mandarin, is one of Asia's top MBA programs designed to meet global leadership challenges, with tailor-made curriculum providing an immersive experience.

In collaboration with Peking University, NUS also offers a double-degree MA by Research in Chinese Language, an elite program in Chinese.

More recently, the Department of Chinese Studies of the NUS Arts and Social Sciences and the NUS (Suzhou) Research Institute (NUSRI) have jointly offered a winter program - Chinese Business Enterprises and Management - to all university students.

Research institutions

NUS' first overseas research institute, NUSRI, was set up in November 2010 when an official agreement was inked between NUS and the Suzhou Industrial Park Administrative Committee at a ceremony witnessed by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Xi Jinping, then vice-president of China. It was officially opened in May 2013 in a ceremony attended by the then Singapore Education Minister Heng Swee Keat and Jiang Hongkun, then Party chief of Suzhou.

A multifaceted international research institution in the Suzhou Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District in Suzhou Industrial Park, NUSRI leverages on the NUS' strong research capabilities to contribute to the scientific, economic and industrial developments of Jiangsu and China. The institute is a focal point for research, training and entrepreneurship activities, creating networking opportunities and business development platforms for Chinese and Singapore entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and government agencies. It also provides an incubator platform to nurture new startups in Suzhou.

NUSRI also houses three centers - the NUS Business School's China Business Center, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Suzhou Center, and the Institute of Real Estate Studies (IRES) Global Logistics Properties Research Center. Together, they offer integrated academic and research resources with a focus on public policy, business and urban issues.

The NUS Business School's China Business Center organized its inaugural flagship forum and industry roundtables in Beijing themed Globalization and Transformation of China and Chinese Enterprises in April 2015, which attracted more than 400 participants. Keynote speakers included Wang Shi, founder and chairman of property developer China Vanke.

The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Suzhou Center offers advanced public administration degree programs and short-term training courses on social management, urbanization, modernization of governance systems, and environmental and water resources management.

The IRES Global Logistic Properties Research Centre - a partnership between IRES and Global Logistic Properties, a leading provider of modern logistics facilities in China, Japan and Brazil - supports China policymakers and industry leaders with a platform to study issues in urbanization, logistics and related sectors.

Other NUS research facilities are the NUS-Tsinghua Extreme Search Center based in Beijing and the Xiada-NUS Joint Life Science Laboratory, established with Xiamen University.

Entrepreneurship

The NUS Overseas Colleges program, the only one of its kind in the world, was developed to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship in students, and to equip them with the necessary know-how and skill sets to kick start their entrepreneurial journeys. There are six NOCs in some of the most exciting entrepreneurial hubs in the world: from Silicon Valley and New York in the United States, Israel and Sweden, to Shanghai and Beijing in China.

Since 2004, students in the NOC Shanghai program, a partnership with Fudan University, have benefited from an environment enriched with the scientific, industrial and financial development of Shanghai.

The NOC Beijing program offers students the opportunity to intern full-time with companies in Beijing while pursuing entrepreneurship-related studies at Tsinghua and Peking universities.

Students in these programs gain a deeper understanding of China through their six-month or yearlong full-time internships with innovative companies and related studies at the partner universities.

Strengthening ties

As NUS commemorates the 110th year since its founding, together with Singapore's 50th year of independence and the 25 years of diplomatic ties between Singapore and China, its growing collaborations in education and research with institutions in China have been reinforced by the strong relationship between both countries over the years.

NUS values its close and mutually beneficial ties with its many partner institutions in China, and looks forward to building more strategic alliances that will help strengthen the deep and warm bilateral ties between the two nations.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 11/06/2015 page7)