By Crispin Sng


To begin with , it is devoid of doubt that the consistently extremely high ranking of NUS inside the world-wide university education arena is really a powerful testament of the weight of the institution.

The speedy advancement of the university can even be noticed from casual observation without the need of the in-depth analysis by THE. With regards to research, the NUS medical school has forged alliance with the Duke Medical School, 1 of the best in the United states of america. The joint program motivates partnership in research as well as student exchange.

In terms of student development, the University Scholars Program and also the U-town residential program have included significantly variety into students' academic life, ushering in western education technique inside a liberal arts environment.

Thus, it is far from surprising to notice the position of NUS climb quick, in conjunction with its standing within Singapore and also the globe, a brand that may be critical to attract the very best pupils and teachers, whose inflow results in a virtuous cycle of the school'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 a lot of emphasis is on how many quality papers a university has published inside the first-tier global journals, for instance, this type of evaluation bias might be translated into demand 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.

Expense of placing a lot more time in research is normally much less time or interest devoted to undergraduate educating. This can be often observed in insufficient fervour from lecturers and also incredibly low availability of tutors who look always preoccupied.

At the end of the day, what really does world stand to gain from if higher university standing primarily reflects better quality research that may be primarily inconsequential 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.

On the other hand, NUS and quite a few other Asian educational institutions embarrassingly usually do not get outstanding credit for that facet. Actually, NUS president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan stated following the release of ranking that NUS continued progress is a outcome of constant help from the Singapore government. That is already a proof of the close tie between NUS along with the government. In actual fact, much of the college funds originates from the government.

The undermine in academic independence is best noticed within the political science division of NUS which has come under scrutiny for its very clear lack of critical voices. The division has been labeled as "docile", unwilling to maintain itself as an impartial 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 is actually suffice to say that besides enhancing university ranking, the institution also needs to meet its social expectation by finding a fine line between receiving 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.




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