More support for students keen on research and academic career
Each recipient will be paired with a local university and be mentored by an established academic. TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — In a move set to ramp up the number of Singaporean faculty at local universities, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat today (Feb 2) announced a new scheme for Singaporean students keen on a research and academic career.
Under the new Singapore Academic and Research Talent Scheme, the Ministry of Education (MOE) will fund half of the postgraduate talent development schemes of three universities here and set up a new scholarship for undergraduates to eventually pursue a career in a local university.
It aims to offer more than 1,500 scholarships at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels over the next 15 years, Mr Heng said.
Called the MOE-Autonomous University Scholarship, it will start this year. It is targeting 10 to 15 recipients each year who are about to, or in the midst of, pursuing their undergraduate studies.
Each recipient will be paired with a local university — National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) or Singapore Management University (SMU) — but will be free to study locally or overseas. The university will assign an established academic to mentor each recipient.
Recipients will have to serve a bond, and those who do well will be sponsored for postgraduate scholarships. They will later take up academic positions at the university they are paired with.
The aim is to get younger students with interest in academia and research to pursue a career at a local university, said Mr Heng.
To boost the efforts of NUS, NTU and SMU in grooming future faculty, the MOE will also co-fund NUS’s Overseas Graduate Scholarship and Overseas Postdoctoral Fellowship, as well as its Early Career Award; NTU’s Senior Tutorship Scheme and SMU’s Faculty Development Scheme. This will grow the number of scholarships that the universities can support, so that more talented young people with an interest in research and teaching can benefit, said Mr Heng.
“We must continue to build up our nation’s brain trust by investing in a Singaporean core that has the passion and ability to push the frontiers of knowledge, and to teach, for the greater good,” he said in a speech at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Raffles Dialogue yesterday organised by NUS and the National University Health System. The dialogue includes more than 140 participants from 11 countries and will discuss the future of human well-being and security.
Singapore’s universities have worked hard over the years to groom Singaporean talent for a career in academia and for leadership at the institutions, he added. Their programmes give young Singaporeans the opportunity to do extensive research in their areas of interest, to teach and to lead in the universities, he said.
NUS president Tan Chorh Chuan welcomed the MOE’s announcement and said NUS would work closely with the ministry to encourage more Singaporeans to become academics and researchers. In the last 10 years, NUS has awarded close to 70 Overseas Graduate Scholarships and Overseas Postdoctoral Fellowships, he said.
Awardees return to NUS after their international stints and those who have become leaders at NUS include Provost Tan Eng Chye, he said.
