INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC ADVISORY PANEL MEETING IN SINGAPORE (11-14 JANUARY 2005) TO DISCUSS RECOMMENDATIONS ON UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY, GOVERNANCE AND FUNDING

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10 January 2005

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC ADVISORY PANEL MEETING IN SINGAPORE (11-14 JANUARY 2005) TO DISCUSS RECOMMENDATIONS ON UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY, GOVERNANCE AND FUNDING

1. The 13-member International Academic Advisory Panel (IAAP) of the Ministry of Education (MOE) will be meeting in Singapore on 11-14 January 2005.

2. The IAAP will deliberate on the preliminary recommendations of the Steering Committee to review University Autonomy, Governance and Funding (UAGF). These recommendations aim to devolve greater autonomy to our 3 publicly-funded universities - National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) to enable them to differentiate themselves and chart their own strategies in competing globally and achieving peaks of excellence. To this end, the Steering Committee recommends that NUS and NTU become autonomous universities by being corporatised as not-for-profit companies, similar to how SMU is currently set up. As autonomous universities, NUS and NTU will be given greater flexibility and autonomy to decide on matters such as internal governance, budget utilisation, tuition fees and admission requirements.

3. During the deliberation meetings, the IAAP members will be called upon to share their experiences on university autonomy, the roles they played as key stakeholders of their universities, as well as how they have steered their respective institutions to excel in education and research. They will also provide advice to our 3 universities on how they can make full use of the autonomy and the potential pitfalls to avoid, as they become autonomous universities.

4. In addition to the deliberation sessions, the IAAP members will call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 13 January 2005 . They will attend a dinner hosted by the President of Singapore, Mr S R Nathan, on the same evening. The IAAP will also hold discussions with the presidents and faculty from NUS, NTU and SMU. They will have the opportunity to interact with the university council members/trustees, faculty and students from the 3 universities.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

5. The IAAP was established in 1997 by MOE to advise Singapore’s universities on major trends and directions in university education and research with a view to develop them into world-class centres of excellence in scholarship and research. The IAAP convenes on a biennial basis and, thus far, has met 4 times - in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003.

6. The 5^th Meeting of the IAAP on 11-14 January 2005 is chaired by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Education. It comprises 12 distinguished academics and heads of universities and industry from Denmark, Finland, India, the People's Republic of China, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America . This panel also sees the appointment of 4 new members: Professor Ernst Buschor (Vice-President, ETH Board), Professor Ashok Misra (Director, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay), Dr Kari Olavi Raivio (President, University of Helsinki) and Professor Wang Shenghong (President, Fudan University). The Presidents of NUS, NTU and SMU serve as ex-officio members. The list of IAAP members is at Annex.

Annex

Composition of the IAAP for the 5th Meeting, 11-14 Jan 2005

No	Name	Designation
1	Dr Ng Eng Hen (Chairman)	Minister for Manpower and 2^nd Minister for Education
Renewed Members
2	Mr G Leonard Baker Jr	Managing Director Sutter Hill Ventures
3	Mrs Molly Corbett Broad (unable to attend 5th meeting)	President University of North Carolina
4	Prof William Brody	President Johns Hopkins University
5	Lord Alec Broers	President The Royal Academy of Engineering
6	Prof Robert A Brown	Provost Massachusetts Institute of Technology
7	Prof Henrik Toft Jensen	Rector Roskilde University
8	Dr Laura D’Andrea Tyson	Dean London Business School
9	Prof Xu Zhihong	President Peking University
New Members
10	Prof Ernst Buschor	Vice-President ETH Board
11	Prof Ashok Misra	Director Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
12	Dr Kari Olavi Raivio	Chancellor University of Helsinki
13	Prof Wang Shenghong	President Fudan University