Joint post-graduate programmes: NUS shares insights
- Lo Tien Yin
EDUCATIONAL IMPACT: NUS President Prof Tan Chorh Chuan (left) with China's Vice Minister of Education, Mr Zhang Xinsheng (right) in Nanjing. Examples from NUS were highlighted to illustrate how joint and double-degree training can allow universities to exploit research complementarities in interesting and productive ways. They can capitalise on "mutually beneficial academic outsourcing", a concept coined by Prof Tan, as well as help partnering universities attract high-quality students.
What are the key factors for success? The academic value proposition should be compelling and of significant educational impact. There should be strong champions and institutional commitment from both universities, together with additional resources such as funding for scholarships.
"Institutional fit is also very important. These relationships and programmes take an unexpectedly long time to develop and mature. Patience, mutual respect and common goals are critical," said Prof Tan.
"For NUS, we see joint programmes, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as an important part of our vision of global education. This is an area full of exciting possibilities and opportunities which would help us to bring education to the next level, to better serve our students, and ultimately, to positively impact our economies and society at large," he said.
Some successful examples of joint and double-degree programmes offered by NUS include the NUS-Karolinska Institutet joint PhD in genetic and molecular epidemiology; the NUS-Georgia Institute of Technology Dual Masters in Logistics and Supply Chain Management programme; as well as the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School which offers a joint NUS and Duke MD degree.
Life and the process of splitting water
SPLITTING WATER: Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor Prof James Barber speaking at the public lecture at NUS Shaw Foundation Alumni House Auditorium. HOW does one split water? Plants, it would seem, can point the way, according to Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor, Prof James Barber FRS. A multi sub-unit enzyme embedded in the photosynthetic membrane of plants, when powered by solar energy, catalyses the chemical reaction of water splitting. In the process, dioxygen is released into the atmosphere, helping to convert carbon dioxide into the organic molecules of life.
Using X-ray crystallography, scientists now have a deeper understanding of the process. Speaking at a public lecture, Light driven electron transport and catalysis in the water splitting enzyme of photosynthesis revealed by crystallography at NUS (12 Nov 2008), Prof Barber said that this knowledge could have significant implications for the construction of artificial photochemical systems to store solar energy in chemical bonds.
Prof Barber graduated in Chemistry from the University of Wales and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a registered Chartered Chemist. He joined the Academic Staff of Imperial College in 1968 and occupies the Chair named after the Nobel Laureate Ernst Chain (co-discoverer of Penicillin). He has published over 600 original research papers and reviews in the field of plant biochemistry, editing 15 specialised books, and was awarded the prestigious Flintoff medal by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2002. Recently elected President of the International Society of Photosynthesis Research, the core of his research has focused on photosynthesis and the functional role of the photosystems with emphasis on their structures. Much of his work has been on Photosystem II, a remarkable biological machine able to use light energy to split water producing oxygen and electrons, a reaction upon which we are all dependent.
Making connections in life and truth
CONNECTING WELL: Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor Prof Shu Chien (right) fielding questions from the audience with NUS Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost Prof Tan Eng Chye. HIS RESEARCH on how blood flow regulates interaction between the blood stream, blood cells and artery walls has led to new information relevant to the spread of cancer cells. Prof Shu Chien, Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor to Singapore, has long been unravelling mysteries behind mechanical forces which signal gene expression to cause cell growth, migration and cell death at the molecular level.
In his public lecture at NUS on Interplays between Science-Medicine-Technology and Human-Society (25 Nov 2008), Prof Chien spoke on the connections and signalling between seemingly unrelated disciplines. He said that there is a tendency for intellectuals to focus on their own fields. However, there are considerable interplays among seemingly unrelated disciplines. Advances in science and technology have a significant influence on society, economics and human health, and vice versa, Prof Chien said. The creation of art and music for instance, requires the coordination of physiological (mental and motor) functions and physical instruments – and their appreciation required physiological cognitive functions.
Artists' health can affect their creativity, and arts and music have healing power. The behaviours of normal versus abnormal cells in an individual can be compared with those of good citizens versus deranged persons in a society. Understanding interplays between science-medicine-technology and humanity-society can shed new light on the meaning of life and truth, said Prof Chien at the Shaw Foundation Alumni House.
Prof Chien received his medical degree from National Taiwan University and PhD (Physiology) from Columbia University. He is now University Professor and Y C Fung Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He established the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, and Institute of Engineering in Medicine at UCSD, and UC System-wide Bioengineering Institute in California.
His awards and honours include Melville Medal (twice), Landis Award, Galletti Award, Zweifach Award and Founders Award of National Academy of Engineering.
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