New NUS head to focus on people

THE new president of the National University of Singapore (NUS) plans to make the recruitment and retention of faculty and students his key priority.

Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, 49, who takes over the reins from Professor Shih Choon Fong today, said his focus would be on people because they made up the university.

'We will have a singular focus on developing, recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty and staff, because only with them can we excel in education, high-impact research and service,' he said in an interview last week on his priorities in the coming year.

He wants to lay at the feet of the teaching faculty the opportunities to pursue unconventional research ideas with potential for breakthroughs. They will also get more professional development support to innovate and excel.

A strategic recruitment committee will root out and recruit top-rate faculty in specific areas so the university can trace 'new pathways to distinction in both research and teaching'.

NUS will release more details next month.

Prof Tan has been its acting president since Aug 15; between 2004 and last year, he was its provost and deputy president, and then its senior deputy president.

A renal physician, he joined the Department of Medicine in 1987 and became NUS' youngest dean 10 years later at 38.

In 2000, he was seconded to the Health Ministry as director of medical services, before returning to NUS as deputy president and provost four years later.

He was identified as the new president when news broke earlier this year that Prof Shih would be joining the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, as its founding president.

In his second tour at NUS, Prof Tan plans to spend more time with students, staff and alumni.

He also intends to strengthen the university's collaborations with partner universities overseas, which will open up learning opportunities for the students.

He said: 'Students are the heart of our university, so our responsibility is to equip and challenge them to rise beyond themselves... and grow intellectually and as individuals.'

Asked what he hopes to achieve during his term as president, he said: 'I would like to create a dynamic intellectual community in NUS, powered by highly talented faculty, staff, students and alumni, with a culture that fiercely values excellence.'

He added that he wanted to 'steepen NUS' trajectory of development' by building on its impact and reputation to make it a leading global university and 'a thought-leader' in Asia.

The chairman of the NUS Board of Trustees, Mr Wong Ngit Liong, said: 'It is our university's good fortune to find a visionary leader in Chorh Chuan and to have the continuing benefit of his talents and leadership.'

Read More...

Exam obsession churns out rote-learners

MS JESSICA Walker's descriptions of the compulsive exam-study efforts of Singaporean youth in her letter, 'Appalled by 'obsessive' study habits' (Nov 26), question the very validity of our examination-based education system.

This issue was addressed in a 2006 Newsweek interview with then Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, where he pointed out that although both Singapore and America are meritocracies, America is a 'talent meritocracy' while Singapore is an 'exam meritocracy'. America rewards those with talent while Singapore rewards those who do well in examinations.

The implications of this difference are huge. While Singapore is No. 1 in the global mathematics and science rankings for school children, very few Singaporeans grow up to be top-ranked scientists, entrepreneurs, inventors or academics. On the other hand, US children fare worse in tests but do better later on in life.

Singapore's obsession with examinations churns out rote-learners who score excellently in examinations but who lack the initiative, creativity, passion and courage needed to succeed in the real world.

However, reforms towards a 'talent meritocracy' need to be made in society at large. As long as employers judge a person's worth by his paper qualifications, students here will continue to emphasise more on examination excellence than other aspects of personal development.

Nowhere is reform more needed than in the government sector, where the pay scale for a fresh graduate is still pegged to the class of honours achieved in university. This discourages learning that will not improve grade point average.

I suggest paying all graduates with an honours degree the same starting salary, and basing pay increments on on-the-job performance. We can also lower differentials in starting wages among those with different levels of academic qualification.

These moves reward talents who can do a job efficiently and well - and it is such people that the country really needs.

Read More...

Growing up in 'tribes'

It's a jungle out there

A CHILL went down my spine when I viewed the Anglo-Chinese Junior College ragging video.

Was this the culmination of a long tradition of 'us' against 'them' in schools?

While no former schoolmate has ever laid a finger on me, I was not spared the emotional roller coaster of group inclusion and exclusion at Raffles Junior College (RJC). I put my bitter- sweet experience down to the fact that I was not from its affiliated school, Raffles Institution (RI).

Most of my close friends had chosen other junior colleges, and I knew no one at RJC. Most former RI boys kept to themselves, leaving the non-RI students to their own devices.

Perhaps the former RI students were trying collectively to hold on to their secondary school bonds. But for an angst-ridden teen, I wondered whether I was being judged because of my nerdy awkwardness, or because of where I came from.

It drove home to me this harsh reality: Life is a jungle of tribes.

Eisen Teo, 24, is an honours student in history at the National University of Singapore (NUS)

Young rebel in a uniform

UNIFORMS and badges are more than mere items of apparel; they are our tickets into a world where we are adults in our own right, away from our parents.

And even though a herd mentality arises when everyone dons the same colours, it is an individual's choice whether he uses this freedom responsibly, or exploits it.

When I was 11, I took a book at a school book sale without paying for it (I returned it the next day). Two years later, I started sneaking off for lunches with schoolmates under the guise of 'remedial classes'.

It was part of my exclusive experience of growing up. I felt the invincibility of youth, my uniform and badge catalysing the youthful rebellion innate in all of us.

Lynette Lim, 19, is a second-year law student at NUS

Normal for people to form cliques

DURING my formative years at Dunman High School, my peers and I would begin banding together in cliques based on class or co-curricular activities (CCAs).

Mainstream students did not mix often with students from the Gifted Education Programme - from which I came - and neither did members of different CCAs. Each student stayed within his or her clique.

But such behaviour is not just restricted to school; it is a fundamental part of the human socialisation process.

Humans of all cultures have always banded together in groups. Religions, nuclear families, and even the modern

nation-state stand as examples of social structures that have arisen because of the 'herd mentality'.

Sometimes, these groups may adopt an 'us' versus 'them' world view, leading to disagreements and even violence.

If cliques in schools coexist peacefully, then well and good. However, if tensions or violence arise, these students are merely following the examples adults have set.

Jonathan Kwok, 24, is an honours student in economics at NUS

Online criticism a form of 'ragging'

STUDENTS form rival cliques for a sense of purpose and belonging. But in no way does that frequently descend into violence or perversity, as did the recent videotaped ragging incident at my school.

Still, members of the public, especially those in the blogosphere, pounced on the isolated episode with relish.

I do not approve of the prank, which went overboard, but many of the online comments from 'concerned citizens' were not constructive.

Instead, they were vulgar, with several comparing the incident to 'gang rape' and insinuating that the girl, and Anglo- Chinese Junior College students in general, 'enjoy being abused'.

Are such insults not a form of the very thing they condemn - 'ragging' - albeit in anonymity?

Chong Joe En, 17, is a humanities student at Anglo-Chinese Junior College

Read More...

3 schools to offer media studies

STUDENTS from three secondary schools will get a chance to learn about the media and make their own films in a new course to be offered at the O-level exams from next January.

A total of 60 Express and Normal (Academic) students from Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School, Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School and Singapore Chinese Girls' School have enrolled in the media studies course.

It is part of the second phase of O-level applied subjects, which came from the recommendations of a government committee formed two years ago. The committee was charged with looking into ways secondary schools could teach skills needed in a knowledge- based and innovation-driven economy.

It recommended that secondary schools work together with the polytechnics to introduce applied subjects to cater to secondary school students who prefer practical class work.

In January this year, eight secondary schools began offering creative 3-D animation, fundamentals of electronics and introduction to enterprise development as O-level applied subjects.

The new two-year media studies course will be taught by two lecturers from Ngee Ann Polytechnic's School of Film and Media Studies. Students will be introduced to mass media theories, analyse media content, conduct interviews and will be equipped with script-writing, directing and video editing skills to create films.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic School of Film and Media Studies deputy director Robin Yee said: 'There has been in unprecedented explosion of media in the last decade due to the Internet.

'But the ability to discern media content has not been in sync with this growth. We hope to train savvy consumers and producers of media through the course.'

Students said they applied for the course because it will put them in good stead to enter the growing media industry in Singapore.

'I enrolled in the media studies course because it will give me the skills for my dream jobs which are being a journalist, author and movie producer,' said Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary student Premela Rajasegaran, 14. 'I'm so excited; I can't wait for school to start again.'

The Government announced in April that it will pour significant resources into making Singapore the best place to develop, host and distribute media content.

To achieve this goal, it would need to increase the pool of people who can conceptualise, manage and provide support for large creative projects like movies.

Read More...

S'pore students back after detour

A GROUP of students from Yishun Town Secondary School who were in India for a four-day immersion programme returned home safely yesterday - much to the relief of their families.

The 17 students and three teachers were supposed to have flown back from Mumbai's airport on Thursday, when violence broke out in the city.

Afraid for their safety, the school redirected them to Bangalore's airport, from where they flew home.

Two Saturdays ago, the students and teachers left for Pune, often described as the cultural capital of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, to learn about the Indian education system, culture and sights through sharing and making friends.

Pune is about 120km south-east of Mumbai.

The school's vice-principal Tan Chin Huat, told The Straits Times that when news of the situation in Mumbai broke, the school contacted the teachers at once to confirm the safety of the group.

The students' parents were also called and given reassurance of their children's safety, he said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was also informed of the group's location; the ministry's officials who had gone to Mumbai were in constant contact with the teachers in charge of the trip.

Mr Tan said: 'It was as the events unfolded that the school decided that it would be advisable to take a detour to Bangalore and then fly home to Singapore from there.'

The students and teachers arrived safely at about 6 am yesterday.

Violence exploded in Mumbai last Wednesday, when teams of heavily-armed militants launched a string of attacks on more than 10 sites in the city, including the two luxury hotels, the Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident.

Indian commandos ended the three-day rampage on Saturday, after more than 170 people died in the attacks - including Singapore lawyer Lo Hwei Yen, 28.

Her body was flown back on board a Singapore Airlines flight from Mumbai early yesterday.

She was accompanied by her husband Michael Puhaindran, who had flown to Mumbai last Thursday night on getting the news that she had been taken hostage.

An MFA spokesman told The Straits Times that of the 115 Singaporeans in Mumbai registered with the ministry, 'a number had decided to stay on for various reasons'.

Read More...