SINGAPORE: Professor Shih Choon Fong has been chosen to lead a new research university in Saudi Arabia.

The President of the National University of Singapore will leave NUS at the end of 2008.

Professor Tan Chorh Chuan has been named as his successor.

By 1 December 2008, 62-year-old Professor Shih will assume his duties as the Founding President of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

He was picked by the Chairman of the university's Board of Trustees, Mr Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, after an extensive international search among top academic research leaders.

KAUST is touted as a "world-class, graduate-level scientific research university", which is still under development in Saudi Arabia.

Chairman of the NUS Board of Trustees Wong Ngit Liong said: "Under Choon Fong's visionary and able leadership, the National University of Singapore has undergone a tremendous transformation into a major research-intensive university, widely respected for its dynamism and excellence."

Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said: "Choon Fong has had an exemplary career as an academic and leader. He shaped the transformation of NUS and won it recognition amongst leading institutions internationally as a world-class university. We are proud that he has been appointed Founding President of KAUST."

Professor Shih was appointed as NUS Deputy Vice Chancellor in 1997 and became the President of NUS in 2000.

His successor Professor Tan Chorh Chuan is currently NUS' Senior Deputy President.

He served as Provost and Deputy President of NUS from 2004-2007.

Professor Tan concurrently serves as the Deputy Chairman of Singapore's Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) and has been the Chairman of A*STAR's Finance and Budget Committee since 2002. -CNA/vm