Artificial intelligence is no longer merely an optional study aid at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
From Academic Year 2026/27, every incoming undergraduate must complete a compulsory course on generative AI within their first two weeks of university.
Meanwhile, all NUS students, faculty members and staff will receive access to ChatGPT Edu from 31 August 2026.
In other words, learning how to use AI is becoming part of the basic NUS experience, alongside finding your lecture theatre and figuring out which canteen queue is worth joining.
Freshmen Must Complete a Five-Hour AI Module
The compulsory module is called THE1008 Applied Generative AI: From Prompting to Evaluation.
It consists of three hours of online lecture videos with quizzes, followed by a two-hour workshop conducted in person.
More than 7,700 freshmen entering NUS this year began the module in July. They must finish the online portion before attending the workshop and complete the entire requirement within the semester’s first two weeks.
According to NUS, the course will teach students how to interact effectively with large language models and multimodal AI systems, which can work with different forms of content such as text and images.
The university wants students to apply these skills to their studies, assignments, internships and eventual careers. AI competencies will subsequently be incorporated into their common curriculum and individual majors.
ChatGPT Edu Will Be Available Across NUS
The university also announced a strategic collaboration with OpenAI on 11 August.
Under the agreement, its entire community will gain access to ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT developed for universities and colleges.
Compared with the free version, NUS said the platform offers broader access to its main features within a university-managed system equipped with additional administrative, privacy and security controls.
Conversations and information entered within the NUS workspace will not be used to train OpenAI’s models, according to the university.
More advanced ChatGPT Edu tools will initially be tested in selected courses. They may later be introduced into other undergraduate courses where they support the intended learning outcomes.
NUS did not disclose the cost of the initiative. Its deputy president for academic affairs and provost, Professor Aaron Thean, told CNA that it represented a “significant but necessary” investment.
NUS Does Not Want Students Relying on One AI Provider
ChatGPT will not be the only AI platform available at NUS.
Students already have access to Microsoft Copilot through the university’s Microsoft 365 subscription. NUS employees also use an internal generative AI platform containing models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
Selected tools from that internal platform will be introduced to students through particular courses from this academic year.
Professor Thean said NUS intends to collaborate with multiple AI companies so that students can gain experience with different tools instead of depending on a single provider.
Providing university-wide access also helps ensure students can use premium AI services regardless of whether they can afford individual subscriptions.
All students will receive a baseline level of access. Those studying areas in which AI is a core part of their training, such as computing, may receive more advanced tools through their courses and related activities.
NUS has about 50,000 undergraduate, master’s and PhD students.
AI Is Becoming Part of University Education
NUS is not the only local university making AI a bigger part of student life.
In April 2026, Nanyang Technological University announced that all its undergraduates would receive access to a collection of premium Google AI tools from August.
NTU also plans to incorporate AI into about 40 per cent of its courses by 2030, up from approximately 5 per cent when the initiative was announced.
For students, the shift is clear. Universities are no longer discussing only whether AI should be used. They are increasingly teaching students how to use it effectively, responsibly and critically.
