Singapore university president stresses on wholesome educational practices

The Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently in Chennai.

Prof Tan said that higher education institutions must continue to innovate for the future in order to help prepare the future generation of students to thrive, create new opportunity and contribute to the society. Quality, transformative education, influential research supported by innovation has made NUS a leading global university in higher education, he added.

He pointed out the various challenges faced by Singapore over the years in emerging as a major higher education hub in Asia. “Higher education will not be strong without strong primary and secondary education and hence focus needs to be given on all levels of education”, he remarked.

Ambassador Gopinath Pillai, Chairman, Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, in his address said, “Singapore has several commonalities and it can connect people of countries in the region economically as well as culturally”. Speaking on the growth model of Singapore, Ambassador Pillai said that Singapore transformed itself from a survival economy towards knowledge economy over the years.

N Kumar, Past President, CII & Vice Chairman, The Sanmar Group said that Singaporean education system was acclaimed worldwide and that many lessons could be drawn by its systems. “For India to compete globally, there is a need for us to change. We need to move from academic-oriented syllabus to skill and career-focused learning systems that meet the expectations of the industry” he said.

An interactive session with Prof Tan Eng Chye chaired by Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras was part of the session. Various queries pertaining to the session theme and engagement of NUS with Indian institutes were discussed. Prof Tan mentioned of the close collaboration of NUS with IIT Madras and expressed his desire to work with more universities in India.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a research university with an entrepreneurial dimension and offers a wide range of disciplines, including sciences, medicine and dentistry, design and environment, law, arts and social sciences, engineering, business, computing and music in both undergraduate and postgraduate education.