AsianScientist (Apr. 11, 2011) – Singapore’s first liberal arts college, the Yale-NUS College, was officially launched today at the National University of Singapore (NUS) by the country’s Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsien Loong.
The university joins other tie-ups, such as the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School (with Duke University, USA) and the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMART, with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, USA).
Prime Minister Lee and Dr Ng Eng Hen, Singapore’s Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, witnessed the official signing of the agreement on the college between NUS President Prof. Tan Chorh Chuan and Yale President Prof. Richard Levin.
The Yale-NUS College is Singapore’s first liberal arts college, and the first with a full residential college model, integrating living and learning.
It is also the first campus outside New Haven, Connecticut, that Yale University has developed.
Said Prof. Levin, “The Yale-NUS partnership allows us to re-imagine liberal education for a new century and build a college literally from the ground up. We expect that the curricular and extracurricular innovations introduced in the college will spread back to Yale and other campuses. We also believe the new college can have a profound impact on the advances now being made in higher education throughout Asia.”
As part of the four-year study program, students will stay at three residential colleges, with each residential college housing 330 students. Each residential college will be led by a senior faculty member who will be the Rector, and he or she will be assisted by a Vice Rector. A number of faculty will also live with their families in each residential college.
Facilities at the Yale-NUS college include a performing arts center, a science center with wet and dry labs, a library with multi-media design labs and recording studios, a Center for International and Experiential Learning, a gymnasium with a fitness center and dance studio, as well as a student cafe.
Students will have access to facilities at the main Kent Ridge campus, and be allowed to enroll in specialized courses offered by NUS.
They can also expect to have the opportunity to go abroad at least once during their four year experience. While some students will be able to spend a year at Yale, others will get to attend summer programs there.
The Yale-NUS College expects to admit its first students in 2013.
For more information, visit the new Yale-NUS College website at Yale-NUS website.
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Source: National University of Singapore.
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