Firstly , it really is without any doubt that the continuously superb standing of NUS inside the worldwide university education landscape is a robust testimonial of the weight of the institution.
The rapid improvement of the university can even be discovered from casual observation without the in-depth evaluation by THE. With regards to research, the NUS medical school has forged alliance together with the Duke Medical School, one of the very best within the USA. The joint program motivates cooperation in research as well as student exchange.
When it comes to student development, the University Scholars Program as well as the U-town residential program have increased much variety into students' school life, ushering in western side education style inside a liberal arts atmosphere.
Thus, it's not at all shocking to find out the standing of NUS escalate really fast, in addition to its reputation within Singapore and also the planet, a reputation that may be vital to draw the top students and professors, whose inflow results in a virtuous cycle of the institution's improvement.
Nonetheless, you'll find possible problems with regard to the preoccupation with ranking by college along with the general local community as a whole. The existing approach in examining college is far from ideal and regularly open to critiques. Weight given to distinct aspects, no matter how meticulously taken into consideration, is essentially arbitrary.
A single major area of dispute lies with the balance between research and teaching. A lecturer has to invest time in teaching undergrads and doing research for the purpose of publications. The former is taken as being the primary aim of developing a university even though the latter is usually taken as a stronger criterion while looking for the rating of a school.
If excessive focus is on how many quality papers a college has released inside the first-tier worldwide journals, for example, this sort of review bias will be translated into pressure for professors to publish.
Several universities, like Hong Kong University, have even placed a minimum quota around the volume of papers to be published anything. Even in the lack of an explicit quota, as in the instance of NUS, implicit stress of linking publication to tenure review is enough to nail the concept of 'publish or perish' in the heads of academicians.
Cost in putting more time in research is normally less time or focus devoted to undergrad training. That is usually noticed in scarcity of fervour from professors or low availability of tutors who seem normally pre-occupied.
At the end of the day, what really does society stand to benefit if increased university rating mainly reflects higher quality research that is certainly basically immaterial to students?
In addition, some critical elements of higher education could be underrepresented in appraisal of colleges. Inspite of the high position of NUS, one particular matter stays unresolved by the college: academic freedom or autonomy. University as a notion symbolizes liberty of thinking and expression that are vehicle of intellectual advancement of society.
However, NUS and many other Asian educational institutions embarrassingly don't get high credit for that aspect. In actual fact, NUS president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan stated after the release of ranking that NUS continued progress is a result of consistent assistance from the Singapore government. This can be already an indication of the intimate tie between NUS and the government. In truth, most of the university funding is derived from the government.
The compromise in academic independence is best seen within the political science division of NUS that has come under scrutiny for its obvious lack of critical voices. The division has been labeled as "docile", not willing to assert itself as an unbiased voice within the political discussion.
On the other hand, majority of the established schools in foreign countries are private and they enjoy substantially increased liberty of intellectual inquiry that ultimately benefits the whole society.
The truth is, the founding of Yale-NUS Liberal Arts College a handful of years ago caused much dissatisfaction around the move from the Yale community that considers the Singapore political environment as not favorable forliberal arts learning.
It's suffice to say that in addition to improving university ranking, the institution also requires to meet its social expectation by locating a fine line between having government backing and remaining politically impartial.
Undoubtedly before it renders THE pleased , it need to satisfy Singapore students, social observers and educators 1st, who are the true stakeholders of the education within the nation.
The rapid improvement of the university can even be discovered from casual observation without the in-depth evaluation by THE. With regards to research, the NUS medical school has forged alliance together with the Duke Medical School, one of the very best within the USA. The joint program motivates cooperation in research as well as student exchange.
When it comes to student development, the University Scholars Program as well as the U-town residential program have increased much variety into students' school life, ushering in western side education style inside a liberal arts atmosphere.
Thus, it's not at all shocking to find out the standing of NUS escalate really fast, in addition to its reputation within Singapore and also the planet, a reputation that may be vital to draw the top students and professors, whose inflow results in a virtuous cycle of the institution's improvement.
Nonetheless, you'll find possible problems with regard to the preoccupation with ranking by college along with the general local community as a whole. The existing approach in examining college is far from ideal and regularly open to critiques. Weight given to distinct aspects, no matter how meticulously taken into consideration, is essentially arbitrary.
A single major area of dispute lies with the balance between research and teaching. A lecturer has to invest time in teaching undergrads and doing research for the purpose of publications. The former is taken as being the primary aim of developing a university even though the latter is usually taken as a stronger criterion while looking for the rating of a school.
If excessive focus is on how many quality papers a college has released inside the first-tier worldwide journals, for example, this sort of review bias will be translated into pressure for professors to publish.
Several universities, like Hong Kong University, have even placed a minimum quota around the volume of papers to be published anything. Even in the lack of an explicit quota, as in the instance of NUS, implicit stress of linking publication to tenure review is enough to nail the concept of 'publish or perish' in the heads of academicians.
Cost in putting more time in research is normally less time or focus devoted to undergrad training. That is usually noticed in scarcity of fervour from professors or low availability of tutors who seem normally pre-occupied.
At the end of the day, what really does society stand to benefit if increased university rating mainly reflects higher quality research that is certainly basically immaterial to students?
In addition, some critical elements of higher education could be underrepresented in appraisal of colleges. Inspite of the high position of NUS, one particular matter stays unresolved by the college: academic freedom or autonomy. University as a notion symbolizes liberty of thinking and expression that are vehicle of intellectual advancement of society.
However, NUS and many other Asian educational institutions embarrassingly don't get high credit for that aspect. In actual fact, NUS president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan stated after the release of ranking that NUS continued progress is a result of consistent assistance from the Singapore government. This can be already an indication of the intimate tie between NUS and the government. In truth, most of the university funding is derived from the government.
The compromise in academic independence is best seen within the political science division of NUS that has come under scrutiny for its obvious lack of critical voices. The division has been labeled as "docile", not willing to assert itself as an unbiased voice within the political discussion.
On the other hand, majority of the established schools in foreign countries are private and they enjoy substantially increased liberty of intellectual inquiry that ultimately benefits the whole society.
The truth is, the founding of Yale-NUS Liberal Arts College a handful of years ago caused much dissatisfaction around the move from the Yale community that considers the Singapore political environment as not favorable forliberal arts learning.
It's suffice to say that in addition to improving university ranking, the institution also requires to meet its social expectation by locating a fine line between having government backing and remaining politically impartial.
Undoubtedly before it renders THE pleased , it need to satisfy Singapore students, social observers and educators 1st, who are the true stakeholders of the education within the nation.
About the Author:
The author is a graduate of the university in Singapore and has been writing about education landscape in Singapore in the last 5 years. Since his graduation, he has been providing home tuition to students , enabling them to achieve their goal of being a graduate in a prestigious university.
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