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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published April 9, 2010
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Tony Tan suggests that NUS start liberal arts course
By TEH SHI NING
THE National University of Singapore (NUS) should consider an undergraduate liberal arts programme for students with high potential, National Research Foundation and Singapore Press Holdings chairman Tony Tan said last night.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Dr Tan: Timely for the university to review its undergraduate education, to ensure that its graduates are able 'to work productively in a fast changing Singapore' </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He was speaking at a National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) dinner, at which he was conferred the NUSS Honorary Membership for his contributions to public service, NUS and NUSS.
Reflecting on how NUS needs to keep pace with society's and the economy's needs, Dr Tan thought it 'timely' for the university to review its undergraduate education, to ensure that its graduates are able 'to cope with a longer working life and work productively in a fast changing Singapore'.
Comparing NUS's British-pioneered undergraduate system to the American liberal arts one, Dr Tan noted that the present system has 'served Singapore and Singaporeans well and should not lightly be modified'.
However, with rapid global economic change, restructuring of industries and the transitory nature of many jobs, it needs to be asked whether the current system best prepares students for the modern economy, Dr Tan said.
He thinks that the American system fosters a readier acceptance of change and a greater willingness to take risks. This may also explain why the US economy is more dynamic and entrepreneurial, he said.
Last night, he suggested that NUS could adapt a liberal arts programme to Singapore's context by combining it with a professional course such as law or medicine. Brown University's Programme in Liberal Medical Education is an example of how this could be successful, he said.
Singapore Management University said that its recently launched University Scholars Programme, which introduces liberal arts elements, does admit students keen to read law with a liberal arts foundation. The programme includes a semester in a US liberal arts university.
The Education Ministry had also announced in February's Budget debates that Singapore will have a small liberal arts college, but one affiliated to a local university and not modelled after those in the US, so as to keep fees affordable. NUS has made a proposal for such a college.
Dr Tan said that with a liberal arts programme, NUS would be better able to attract Singapore's brightest students to study here instead of abroad.
'Having a core of bright Singapore students who have undertaken their undergraduate studies in NUS interacting in their working lives with students educated in the most highly regarded universities in Europe, America or China will greatly benefit our nation,' he said.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Tony Tan suggests that NUS start liberal arts course
By TEH SHI NING
THE National University of Singapore (NUS) should consider an undergraduate liberal arts programme for students with high potential, National Research Foundation and Singapore Press Holdings chairman Tony Tan said last night.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Dr Tan: Timely for the university to review its undergraduate education, to ensure that its graduates are able 'to work productively in a fast changing Singapore' </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>He was speaking at a National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) dinner, at which he was conferred the NUSS Honorary Membership for his contributions to public service, NUS and NUSS.Reflecting on how NUS needs to keep pace with society's and the economy's needs, Dr Tan thought it 'timely' for the university to review its undergraduate education, to ensure that its graduates are able 'to cope with a longer working life and work productively in a fast changing Singapore'.
Comparing NUS's British-pioneered undergraduate system to the American liberal arts one, Dr Tan noted that the present system has 'served Singapore and Singaporeans well and should not lightly be modified'.
However, with rapid global economic change, restructuring of industries and the transitory nature of many jobs, it needs to be asked whether the current system best prepares students for the modern economy, Dr Tan said.
He thinks that the American system fosters a readier acceptance of change and a greater willingness to take risks. This may also explain why the US economy is more dynamic and entrepreneurial, he said.
Last night, he suggested that NUS could adapt a liberal arts programme to Singapore's context by combining it with a professional course such as law or medicine. Brown University's Programme in Liberal Medical Education is an example of how this could be successful, he said.
Singapore Management University said that its recently launched University Scholars Programme, which introduces liberal arts elements, does admit students keen to read law with a liberal arts foundation. The programme includes a semester in a US liberal arts university.
The Education Ministry had also announced in February's Budget debates that Singapore will have a small liberal arts college, but one affiliated to a local university and not modelled after those in the US, so as to keep fees affordable. NUS has made a proposal for such a college.
Dr Tan said that with a liberal arts programme, NUS would be better able to attract Singapore's brightest students to study here instead of abroad.
'Having a core of bright Singapore students who have undertaken their undergraduate studies in NUS interacting in their working lives with students educated in the most highly regarded universities in Europe, America or China will greatly benefit our nation,' he said.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
