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Everything About the New NUS College Which is the Merger of Yale-NUS College & the University Scholars Programme

2022-01-05 , 10:47 am

Yale-NUS, a collaboration between Yale and the University of Singapore (NUS), was Singapore’s first liberal arts college. However, it lasted only ten years before it was announced that it will not be taking in any more students last August.

Instead, Yale-Nus will be merging with the University Scholars Programme (USP) to form a new college. Newly named the NUS College, here’s everything you need to know about NUS College.

What, Exactly, is NUS college?

A merger of the USP and Yale-NUS, NUS College will be a new undergraduate honours college. Up to 400 students will be accepted in the 2022/2023 academic year starting in August, which would be the college’s first intake.

It will offer a “broad-based, interdisciplinary education” and also seeks to further integrate itself with the rest of NUS.

All students looking to apply to NUS can also apply to NUS College, with the exception of… takes a deep breath in: architecture, dentistry, industrial design, landscape architecture, medicine, music, nursing and pharmacy courses.

Why Merge to Form NUS College?

After all, wasn’t a collaboration with Yale, one of the top universities in the world, good enough?

With Singapore’s kiasu nature, apparently not. NUS College seeks to take only the best parts of the Yale-NUS and USP experiences to form a “rich and rigorous residential programme”.

This simply means that they’ll be combining liberal arts traditions with the degree programmes offered, creating an entirely new and better learning experience.

Sorry, Yale. Seems like even the Ivy League isn’t good enough for us.

Despite Initial Backlash, NUS College was Well-Received by Yale-NUS and USP

When news of the merger spread, there was great backlash by the staff and students of Yale-NUS and USP. The public also expressed disappointment that the liberal arts experience would be taken away.

The faculty members, staff and students of the colleges petitioned against the mergers, calling out NUS’ lack of transparency. They also asked for more inclusion of other stakeholders like students and staff in their decision-making processes.

The petition titled #NoMoreTopDown received lots of support, with over 14,000 signatures.

Although the merger wasn’t reversed, it seemed like NUS has taken their requests into account. NUS said that the name, NUS College, was selected after various rounds of discussions and interviews with multiple stakeholders.

Yes, that meant that the staff, students, alumni, and even industry leaders all participated in 20 rounds of discussions, just to name the college.

Everyone from USP and Yale-NUS was also extremely supportive during the merger, according to the new dean Simon Chesterman.

Last but Not Least, Who is the New Dean?

If you really want the nitty-gritty details on the NUS College, you’ll be pleased to know that the new dean holds a long list of achievements to his name. (By the way, he’ll only assume the role of dean from 1 July.)

Professor Simon Chesterman obtained his PhD in international law from the University of Oxford in 2000.

Since then, he has taught at Melbourne, Oxford, Southampton and Columbia universities. He has also taught at Sciences Po in France, which is a selective research university internationally recognised for its high-quality research.

Serving the NUS’ law faculty since 2007, he has served as dean since 2012 and as co-president of the Law Schools Global League since 2021. He was also appointed senior director of artificial intelligence governance at AI Singapore last year.

Professor Chesterman will continue to serve as dean of the Faculty of Law. He will also be appointed vice senior academic advisor for educational innovation in NUS.

This is just a fancy way to say that he’ll be helping to spread the best practices of NUS College across the whole NUS so that everyone can benefit.

With a wide range of involvement and achievement in various fields, prospective undergraduates and kiasu parents can rest easy knowing that the NUS College is in good hands.