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Press Releases

August 11, 2008

Factsheet on Singapore’s New Publicly-Funded University

The new university will offer programmes in the core disciplinary areas of Engineering & Applied Science, Business & Information Technology, and Architecture & Design. The rationale for the choice of these disciplines is set out below.

Disciplinary areas are aligned with the main thrust of Singapore’s economy and manpower needs.

The disciplinary areas chosen for the new university’s initial offerings are aligned with the main thrust of Singapore’s economy and manpower needs over the medium term. The choice of these disciplinary areas also aims to ensure that graduates would have good employment prospects and exciting opportunities for career development on graduation.

Table 1: Alignment of Core Disciplinary Areas for New University with the Economy
Core Disciplinary Areas Alignment with Main Thrust of Economy & Manpower Needs
Engineering & Applied Sciences
  • In line with Singapore’s continued emphasis on Science & Technology
  • Manufacturing sector will continue to be linchpin of the economy. Value-add expected to increase as we move up the value chain
  • Growth driven primarily by transport engineering, biomedical, chemical and precision engineering sectors.
Business & IT
  • Growth in business services and financial services sectors are expected to continue over the medium term
  • ICT industry will also continue to grow strongly, with the launch of the Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) plan
    • Aims to double the value-add of the industry, increase ICT export revenue to $60 billion, and create 80,000 ICT and related jobs by 2015.
Design & Architecture
  • Fast-growing creative industry will contribute to the demand for more design professionals, including those in industrial, graphic and urban design.
    • Design is playing an increasingly important role in enhancing business competitiveness in the crowded global marketplace.
    • Design will serve to inspire creativity and generate new forms of expression, all of which can create new value for Singapore.
  • Growing demand for higher quality architectural work and increase in number of projects will also contribute to demand for more architects.
The combination of the three disciplines provides a unique base from which we can develop the interdisciplinary approach of the university.

These three disciplinary areas were also chosen for their compatibility with the educational approach of the new university. As the new university will emphasise interdisciplinary learning, its disciplinary areas should have a strong potential for collaboration and synergy. For example, top universities like Stanford University have infused design thinking principles into other disciplines like Engineering and Business. The cross-fertilisation of ideas emerging from the interdisciplinary approach can potentially yield innovative solutions to difficult problems.

These disciplines would help the university attract its fair share of talent.

The new university’s disciplinary areas provide it with scope to develop innovative flagship programmes that would be attractive to bright students. The discipline areas form a strong core that would appeal to students with diverse backgrounds, and form the basis for strong academia-industry collaboration.