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SINGAPORE: Singapore will have a third medical school. It will confer joint degrees by the Nanyang Technological University and Imperial College.
The school will be sited next to Tan Tock Seng Hospital so that students can get close access to clinical training.
The Ministry of Education and the Health Ministry, after studying Singapore's demographic trends and healthcare demands arising from an ageing population, said Singapore needs a new medical school. This is especially since the current two schools are nearing maximum capacity.
Although Singapore also recruits doctors from overseas, there are advantages to having more local doctors. NTU's Provost, Dr Bertil Andersson, said: "They know the cultural context much better, they know the languages much better."
"That is very important" for elderly patients, he added.
NTU is partnering Imperial College London to set up the new medical school, which will start offering five-year degree programmes in 2013. It will take in 150 students each year, but for the first batch, it is taking in only 50 students.
Imperial College will provide the core faculty who will help develop the curriculum, which will include elements of engineering and business.
NTU president, Dr Su Guaning, said: "We are developing the new medical school based on three advantages: firstly, Imperial College's strength in medicine; secondly, the strength of our engineering college, which has over 10 years of development with SGH (Singapore General Hospital) on medical devices and medical technology; and thirdly, our business school, (which) will have a major role to play in training doctors as medical leaders, and not just individual doctors, who can lead medical teams."
The school's primary clinical training partner will be the National Healthcare Group.
Professor Andersson said the new medical school will not seek to duplicate what National University of Singapore (NUS) has been offering.
MOE said the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine will increase its cohort size from 250 to 300 students per year. This is among the largest cohort compared to other medical schools around the world, which typically take in fewer than 200 students per year.
As for tertiary arts education, the Education Ministry will provide funding for new degree programmes at the two arts institutions - Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts or NAFA and Lasalle College of the Arts.
Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said: "This is subject to the condition that the two arts institutions provide degree courses in partnership with reputable high quality foreign universities and that only students who meet high standards will be eligible."
Dr Ng said this will help produce leading professionals in arts, design and media to fuel Singapore's creative industries.
- CNA/ir
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