NTU honours US don, S'pore philanthropist

FOR the past two years, United States Professor Linda Darling-Hammond has been closely involved in Singapore education.

Part of an international team of advisers appointed two years ago by the National Institute of Education (NIE), she has since helped shape the training of teachers here.

Prof Darling-Hammond, who previously headed US President Barack Obama's education transition team, emphasised the importance of teachers engaging in research in the classrooms. Such research is instrumental in developing a culture of inquiry and reflection in schools, she felt.

Her recommendations have helped shape NIE's '3:3:3 Roadmap', which outlines its key strategic directions over a five-year period.

Yesterday, she became the first person to be conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Education by Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

The award, presented at NTU's convocation ceremony, is given to those who show 'pre- eminence' in their professions, or who have made significant contributions to the 'country, society or in international relations', said the university.

The professor, who holds the Charles E. Ducommun chair at Stanford University, was a public school teacher before becoming one of the most notable figures in US education.

Also a prolific researcher and author, she has served on several advisory boards for teaching and education in the US, and has strongly influenced both policy and practice there. Reforms sparked by her recommendations have helped ensure access to high-quality teaching for all US children.

Also given an honorary degree yesterday was Dr Lee Seng Gee, chairman of the Lee Foundation. He was conferred a Doctor of Letters for his achievements as a business leader, his contributions as a philanthropist and his support for education in Singapore.

Over the years, the foundation has donated tens of millions to education and related causes, including a $60 million gift to the National Library Board and $50 million to the Singapore Management University.

Yesterday's event - attended by President S R Nathan, Education Minister Ng Eng Hen and others -  marked the start of graduation ceremonies for NTU's largest-ever cohort.

To be held over six days, the 16 ceremonies will involve 7,983 students - including pioneer cohorts from the schools of Art, Design and Media; Humanities and Social Sciences; and Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

Addressing graduates yesterday, NTU president Su Guaning said: 'This is a tough year to be graduating. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. NTU graduates have what it takes to tackle the difficult economic conditions they are faced with.'

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Prof Darling- Hammond praised Singapore for its tremendous investment in the quality of its teaching force. The Republic has ensured that all students can expect to go to a good school and have a real chance to develop strong skills, she noted. The US could learn from Singapore in this area, she said. Though America has some of the world's best schools, institutions there vary widely in quality and resources are not always distributed equitably, making for a very uneven system.

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NUS is 10th in Asia varsity rankings

A NEW ranking of Asian universities that has the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 10th place has raised eyebrows among academics here.

They are questioning how Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd (QS), the compilers of the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings, gave NUS such a low ranking.

The university was placed fourth in Asia in a worldwide survey done last year - by the same company. It was listed as No. 30 globally in that ranking.

However, in QS.com's latest ranking of varsities in Asia, schools in Hong Kong took three of the top four spots, ahead of the University of Tokyo (Todai), a perennial regional powerhouse.

The Nanyang Technological University was placed 14th - it finished 12th in Asia in the worldwide survey last year. The Singapore Management University was unplaced. (See box)

QS head of research Ben Sowters said the reason NUS dropped down the charts is that new criteria reflecting Asian contexts were used to calculate the rankings.

For example, he said, many Asian university faculty members lose out on the citations per faculty criterion, which is used in the world university rankings.

This is because many write and publish research papers in their local language and are therefore not cited as often in international journals, which are mostly in English.

To reflect this, the new criteria of papers per faculty and citations per paper, which measure both productivity and quality, were introduced.

But NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan said the university is still trying to understand how its 10th- placed ranking was derived.

'Clearly, survey methodologies will affect the rankings of individual universities, but for NUS, all other indicators show that we are indeed a leading global university centred in Asia,' he said.

In total, nine categories were measured: Asian academic peer review, papers per faculty, citations per paper, student-faculty ratio, Asian employer review, international faculty, international students, inbound exchange students and outbound exchange students.

NUS received perfect scores in five categories: peer review, recruiter review, papers per faculty and international faculty and international students. However, it lost out in the faculty-to-student ratio.

Professor Simon Marginson, an authority on higher education at Melbourne University, also expressed surprise at the rankings.

He said: 'This is great for Hong Kong, which does have an excellent university system, but even the strongest supporter of universities in the island would not claim this kind of primacy over Singapore and Japan.'

He added: 'NUS is respected throughout the higher education world. It is emerging as the most globally effective university in Asia and has very strong and improving performance on research, as well as an advanced model of teaching and internationalisation.'

Prof Marginson said he did not consider QS's methods for data collection 'sound' - for example, academics are surveyed on their views of the universities - and therefore does not see it as an important ranking.

'Reputational surveys are notoriously poor research instruments. Studies show that most respondents usually know only their own university, and perhaps the one where they did their PhD,' he said.

'I don't think NUS has reason to think its performance has declined. Different rankings produce different results and some are more sound than others.'

NTU, meanwhile, did well for most of the categories, but lost out in those for faculty-to-student ratio and citations per paper.

Reacting to its 14th placing, NTU president Su Guaning said the university is 'pleased to be ranked among the top in Asia'.

He added: 'While the high rankings are cause to celebrate, we do not look at rankings as the only or the most important guide for developing the university.

'We shall continue to focus on enhancing the global education for our students and building our faculty and facilities befitting a top university.'

ameltan@sph.com.sg

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$5m gift to help NTU groom entrepreneurs

PROPERTY tycoon and Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Chua Thian Poh (pictured) gave $5 million yesterday to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to set up an entrepreneurship education fund.

The gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Government.

The $10 million kitty will fund overseas immersion programmes for NTU master's students in technopreneurship and innovation, facilitate visits of successful entrepreneurs to the university for lectures, support a fellowship for enterprising faculty members and help develop a university-wide entrepreneurship education programme.

'I hope that this fund will be useful in nurturing an orchard of opportunities to help groom talent for local enterprises,' said Mr Chua, who is chairman and chief executive of property developer Ho Bee Group.

This is his first donation to the university.

NTU president Su Guaning said the gift served to 'light a fire' for entrepreneurship development. 'We will need to raise more, but as the lead gift, Mr Chua's is the most important.'

He added that NTU would sign a memorandum of understanding next month for the university to become the first Kauffman Campus in Asia.

The Kansas-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation funds entrepreneurship research, development and education programmes in the United States.

Universities like Washington University in St Louis, Purdue University and Georgetown University are among its Kauffman Campuses, which receive grants to train their students in entrepreneurship.

While its Constitution prohibits funding universities outside the US, the foundation will provide advice on designing NTU's entrepreneurship education programmes, Dr Su said.

GRACE CHUA

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NUS versus NTU: Looking beyond the rankings

My heart sank some weeks back when I read a report on university rankings.

My alma mater had dipped in a world university ranking. It didn't help that the other 'big' university in town had gone some notches up. I waited for the sniggers.

I am proud of, and loyal to, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), from which I graduated last year with Honours (Second Class Upper) in journalism.

After the report came out, a friend - who barely scraped through his four years in the National University of Singapore (NUS) graduating without honours as an engineer - insisted that his degree was more valuable than mine.

He pointed to the latest survey of international universities by The Times of London Higher Education supplement, the one that had caused my heart to sink.

NUS had risen three places to No. 30 while NTU had fallen eight places to No. 77 on the list of 200 universities.

He continued his attack: NUS is ranked way above NTU in every global league table of universities compiled.

In 2006, when Newsweek compiled a list of top 100 universities, it put NUS at No. 31, ahead of top American institutions like Brown University - an Ivy League college - and the prestigious Australian National University in Canberra.

NTU was ranked No. 71.

I struggled to counter what my friend said. After all, Singapore students grow up in awe of individual and school rankings.

When I was in secondary 2, I came in fourth in a class of 40 and my parents rewarded me with a Swatch watch. I also remember how I was last in class in primary 5. I kept my head bowed throughout the December holidays that year.

In junior college, I wanted to go to only NTU, not because I felt it was prestigious or cool but because it was the only university here with a journalism school.

Looking back, the kind of rivalry now rife among NUS, NTU and the more recent Singapore Management University (SMU) was hardly an intense one up to 2003.

In fact, when Nanyang Technological Institute became a university in 1991, it admitted students jointly with NUS and charged the same fees.

The Government did this to avoid a replay of the 1970s when Chinese-educated graduates from the then-Nanyang University lost out to their English-educated peers from the then- Singapore University when it came to job and pay prospects.

Those who went to university in the 1990s said that to some extent, the joint admission prevented comparative exercises by students or competitive exercises by the universities - the schools were less differentiated and both were seen to be as good or relatively equal.

The joint-admission requirement was so effective that for the longest time, students did not see much difference between the two universities, and neither did employers. Students made only one application and they would be accepted by either university if their results were good enough.

But in 2004, students could apply separately to both universities and receive offers from both. The rule change meant that students had a choice of which university they wished to go to.

Since then, the two universities have battled to distinguish themselves. Where a one-size-fits-all model in university education used to be the case, students increasingly agonised over which institution to go to.

SMU entered the scene in 2000 with an aggressive marketing campaign which forced the two older universities to enter the world of branding and marketing.

SMU has since been portrayed as the 'hip' and 'vibrant' school where classes are interactive and students think outside the box.

NUS is seen as the top all-round university with history and tradition on its side, and NTU prides itself as a science and technology- intensive university.

But it has had to fight a public perception that the school was 'boring'.

Last year, the university launched a series of advertisements in the print media when its 2007 class graduated. One full- page ad featured smiling, good-looking people who did well and got into top jobs. But the headline, in big red letters, read: Leaders for tomorow (sic).

Alas. In no time, my friends and colleagues were talking about it. The leaders obviously can't spell, they joked.

I have to confess that when I saw the report that NTU's ranking had fallen in the Times of London ranking, proud as I am of my alma mater, I questioned whether my degree was in fact less valuable.

In NTU's defence, when contacted, its provost, Professor Bertil Andersson, said any self-respecting university at a high level takes rankings with a pinch of salt.

He explained that the range of education offered and measures of quality are so diverse that it is inaccurate and inadequate to measure universities only along certain parameters.

Six categories count towards The Times of London's ranking: academic peer review, employer review, faculty-to-student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty and international students.

'Other contributing factors are that as a science and technology- intensive university, we lose out somewhat on factors like humanities and natural sciences which were established only in recent years. Citations take time to build up so a new school takes time to contribute,' said Prof Andersson.

My heart agreed, but my head still asked: Surely, ranking does count for something?

Singapore Human Resources Institute executive director David Ang said that a university's ranking gives employers only an indication of the graduate's quality.

'It makes a difference if you're from Harvard or from some unknown school,' he said. 'But what's most important is the individual's experience and attitude.'

NUS business school's director of career services office Joan Tay told me that NUS is a top globally ranked university with a reputation for academic excellence. She added that foreign employers even fly in to snap up its business school graduates.

In blogs and online forums, the 'NTU versus NUS dilemma' is often discussed. Some prospective students are foreigners looking to do postgraduate studies.

Many netizens end up recommending NUS simply because it is 'more recognised', has a 'better reputation' and 'higher ranking' than NTU.

So, people do perceive ranking as important, and many act on it.

But the underdog status can be a powerful motivational force.

Sales manager Jerry Chan, 32, said NTU graduates are highly motivated. The NTU business school graduate works in a multinational corporation and makes about $10,000 a month.

'NUS may be more well-known and prestigious, but give NTU time and it will catch up,' he said. 'After all, it's the alumni who determine the degree, not the other way around.'

Prof Andersson's advice: Don't be a slave to the rankings, let the rankings inspire you to find out more.

That advice has shown me the way to resolve my head versus heart dilemma.

After all, NUS, founded in 1905, has a good 86-year head start. NTU was established only in 1991.

I am confident that with time, NTU will close the gap between it and NUS.

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Dubai over uni for poly grad

Other Polytechnic students would have leapt at the chance to further their studies in a university, but not Ms Grace Lee.

Her greater desire is to live abroad and work in the service industry. And come September, she will be doing just that.

She will head for Dubai to work as a guest relations agent at the five-star Tiara Palm Dubai Hotel. Her job will involve taking care of VIP guests.

She will earn up to $2,300, with meals and accommodation provided.

Last year, Ms Lee, now 23, turned down an offer to read business economics at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) after doing a business diploma course at Temasek Polytechnic.

During her Poly days, she had done a four-month stint at a five- star hotel in China and that opened her eyes to the opportunities overseas.

'I wanted to take charge of my life and chase my dream of embracing different cultures,' she said.

She signed up for a one-year hospitality programme at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM). Some of her friends said 'she was stupid' not to accept the NTU offer.

As part of the SIM programme, she spent six months at the International Hotel Management School in Switzerland. There, she applied for a job in Tiara Palm.

'I will miss my family and friends when I leave for Dubai. They have been so supportive of me,' said Ms Lee, whose father is a manager in the aviation industry and mother is a housewife.

'I'll be back when the integrated resort is ready. I'll take this chance to establish my career in the meantime,' she added.

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Undergrads start online NTU paper

THREE undergraduates have started a news website as an alternative to their campus newspaper which recently saw a report on a political opposition figure's visit yanked from its pages by the university administration.

The Enquirer, helmed by a group of 23-year-olds from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), was launched on Oct 3, a month after Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan visited the campus to speak to students and distribute fliers.

The university administration instructed students in charge of the newspaper, The Nanyang Chronicle, not to print a report on Dr Chee's unsolicited visit. It said that, as publisher, it had the right to stop its media platforms from being exploited by uninvited people to gain publicity.

This ignited a protest by another group of students - at Hong Lim Park on Oct 5 - against the lack of editorial independence on campus.

Chief editor of The Enquirer, Mr Chong Zi Liang, said the act of censorship was the catalyst for starting the website.

'As the Chronicle is funded by the university, the administration has the final say on whether some stories can or cannot be reported. I felt there was a need for an independent avenue to report these stories which can't be covered in the Chronicle,' he said.

His assistant, Mr Lin Junjie, who is also the Chronicle's chief editor, said The Enquirer aims to fill the gaps in the Chronicle's coverage.

NTU's action has led to some debate in the forum pages of newspapers over how much independence student newspapers should exercise.

An NTU spokesman was reported in The New Paper on Oct 6 as saying the university generally does not interfere in editorial matters. She added: 'In this case, there is the potential of an unsolicited visit being given publicity in furtherance of a political objective.'

In his reply to a reader's letter in The Straits Times' Forum Page on Oct 16, NTU senior associate provost Er Meng Hwa re-stated NTU's right as publisher.

At least three people have written in to the ST Forum Page since, taking issue with his stand.

National University of Singapore undergraduate Johnathan Kwok Dao Yong, 24, agreed that a publisher has rights but said: 'NTU needs to be clear as to whether it wants The Nanyang Chronicle to be a newsletter or a newspaper.

'A newsletter will publish only the good and pleasant things in a university, and basically act as a way for the university to advertise itself. On the other hand, a newspaper will publish both good and bad stories about the school, in as neutral a way as possible.'

The Chronicle is published every three weeks during the school term. It was conceived as a way for journalism students to put in practice what they learn.

Protest organiser Scott Teng, 24, is pleased that students have another platform to turn to for news.

He said: 'We do not know when the administration will pull the ownership card again and decide to spike other stories. But with The Enquirer, we know that these stories will not go unreported.'

Likewise, the Chronicle's teacher-supervisor Andrew Duffy, also a journalism lecturer, has welcomed the entry of The Enquirer in the student media.

He noted that the site's initiators are students from NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

'I hope this shows that the principles of journalism which they have learnt in the classroom are important to them,' he said.

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Undergraduates play policymakers for a day

UNDERGRADUATE Neo Ru Bin used to think that public policymaking in Singapore took a top- down approach, with little input from people on the ground.

'I had the impression that it's the academically capable scholars making the policies, and always top-down,' said the final-year political science student at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Miss Neo, 22, now thinks policymaking here is more consultative and complex. This is her perspective after taking part in the first public policy competition organised by the Public Service Division.

Some 400 undergraduates from NUS, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University, in 100 teams of four, sent in proposals on how to handle the challenge of a shrinking population.

Fifteen teams went on to the semi-finals over the weekend at Changi Village Hotel, where they played the Prime Minister's principal private secretary.

Their brief this time was to advise the Prime Minister on issues he should address for his National Day Rally speech - such as the widening income gap and the loss of national identity.

Three teams, including Miss Neo's, made it to the finals yesterday. In their 20-minute presentations, they had to factor in a last-minute bird flu outbreak in a neighbouring country.

Their proposals included bringing forward the rally so that the PM could reassure Singaporeans. Other ideas: provide aid to the neighbour, and use the crisis as an opportunity to reinforce the sense of nationhood.

The contest aimed to expose students to the intricacies of policymaking: the difficult choices to be made, and the need to cater to different groups, said Mr Teo Chee Hean.

The Minister in charge of the Civil Service told reporters that young people tend to understand the workings of business more than public service.

'They may have less understanding of both the challenge and the meaning, as well as the inherent satisfaction of public service.'

He highlighted a big difference between running businesses and making policies: 'You are working for the welfare of Singaporeans and the future of Singaporeans, and not just the bottom line of the company and of the shareholders.'

The judges for the finals were Civil Service head Peter Ho, Permanent Secretary (Public Service Division) Lim Soo Hoon and Second Permanent Secretary (Trade and Industry) Ravi Menon.

The champions from NUS won $2,000 cash and an internship with the Civil Service. The runners-up from NTU received $1,500; with another NUS team in third place, getting $1,000. The remaining 12 teams won $250 each.

Miss Neo, whose team was third, now feels the work of policymakers is challenging. 'It's easy to criticise a policy, but I've come to see all sides of the picture.

'It's a huge responsibility because it affects many people.'

Another who had felt policymaking was top-down was NUS economics student Khaw Kai Min, 22. He said: 'I've learnt that you can't please all groups of society.' His team won first place.

chinlian@sph.com.sg

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NUS up, NTU down, in varsity rankings

SINGAPORE'S two biggest universities moved in opposite directions in the latest survey of international universities by The Times of London Higher Education supplement.

While the National University of Singapore (NUS) rose three places to No. 30, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) fell eight places to No.77 on the list of 200 universities.

Harvard kept its position at the top while Yale moved ahead of Cambridge University into second place. The University of Oxford came in fourth.

The University of Tokyo emerged top in Asia at No. 19.

Kyoto University and the University of Hong Kong ranked 25th and 26th, ahead of NUS.

Other Asian universities in the top 50 were the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Osaka University, Peking University and Seoul National University.

NUS' highly international faculty and students moved it forward in the rankings, said Mr Nunzio Quacquarelli, managing director of QS, the London-based careers and education group which compiles the highly-followed rankings.

The four-year-old list, which ranked universities in 33 countries this year, is used by prospective students, governments, employers, investors and the universities themselves as a guide.

More than half of NUS' 2,103 faculty members are from overseas.

The university was also viewed favourably by employers in Asia, as well as its academic peers.

NUS president-designate, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, said the university was pleased to be consistently ranked among the best in the world, and promised to build innovative programmes which would cement its place as a leading institution in Asia.

Six categories count towards the ranking: academic peer review, employer review, faculty- to- student ratio, citations per faculty, international faculty, and international students.

The lion's share of 40 per cent comes from a university's reputation among its peers, while employers' keenness to hire its graduates is a significant 10 per cent.

International faculty and students each contribute 5 per cent.

While NTU also did well in peer and employer reviews, it lost out slightly in the number of citations gathered by faculty members.

Its academic publications were not cited as often by academics in other universities compared to the schools ahead of it, said Mr Quacquarelli.

Publications which are influential are cited more often, and stronger universities tend to be behind such work.

NTU president Su Guaning is optimistic that NTU's ranking will improve in a few years when work by new top faculty members will start to have an impact.

Among them are Caltech geologist Kerry Sieh and Associate Professor Christos Panagopoulos, a highly-regarded young physicist in Europe, said Dr Su.

Mr Quacquarelli also noted that rankings were contentious and should be used with caution as they cannot reflect all aspects of university excellence.

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