11 December 2018

The National University of Singapore has launched a new scheme to attract research talents from all over the world.

Called the Presidential Young Professorship (PYP) scheme, offerings include “internationally competitive” salaries and million-dollar research grants for young academic stars.

NUS is expected to have to fork out as much as US$200,000 (S$273,000) a year in some fields.

The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has a similar scheme called Nanyang Assistant Professorship (NAP) scheme, where those selected stand to receive start-up research grants of up to $1 million.

NTU’s assistant professor in the Public Policy and Global Affairs Programme Woo Jun Jie said “both NUS and NTU’s schemes signal a strong focus on research and, by implication, rankings”.

He said the schemes do introduce a certain level of inequality among university faculty members, “with the creation of an elite class of academics who are paid more, teach less and are, therefore, able to attain tenure at a quicker rate”.

10 December 2018

A group 34 engineering students from Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) got together to create a fully functional aircraft that can fly up to 710km.

The plane was built from scratch by the students over a period of four years, flies on a four-cylinder engine, has a glass cockpit with two seats, and comes with luggage space.

NYP said the plane will be used to train subsequent batches of engineering students.

“The project, which took off in 2014, enables students to learn about the various responsibilities of aerospace personnel from hands-on engineering to maintenance,” the school said in its statement.

09 December 2018

Five students from the School of Science and Technology, Singapore (SST), have developed applications that are available on the Apple App Store.

Their apps include PortableCL, a Chinese learning app, as well as Tasks, which helps users keep track of their to-do lists.

This year, SST graduated its fifth batch of students. The school offers an alternative to mainstream secondary schools for students with a keen interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The school hosts an infocomms talent development programme, called SST Inc, where teams of students form start-ups and develop apps that are of use to the wider community.

SST also encourages students to take part in hackathons and competitions because these provide learning opportunities.

08 December 2018

Second Education Minister Indranee Rajah is heading a task force to assist students from disadvantaged families meet their full potential.

Called Uplift, short for Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce, the panel will focus on three areas: improving students’ motivation; tackling long-term absenteeism and drop-out rates; and stepping up parent outreach programmes.

Ms Indranee said, “We will be looking at the bottom 20 per cent, but we will also include children from the lower 30 per cent, even 40 per cent… These students have the potential to do so much better, and we want to help them achieve that potential.”

Ms Indranee said that while there are various ongoing government and community efforts to support disadvantaged students, “the challenges they face are multi-faceted, and this requires us to delve even deeper to identify the gaps and reach out to them more effectively”.

The task force will consult those on the front line of working with disadvantaged students, and brainstorm solutions with the community.

06 December 2018

National University of Singapore President Professor Tan Eng Chye has said that NUS strives to ensure that its graduates are well-prepared for the digital economy, with deep expertise across disciplines, core life skills, as well as a growth mindset.

He also said that NUS students have the advantage of customising their learning journeys from a comprehensive and holistic suite of educational pathways.

These remarks were made after it was recently announced that NUS graduates have made the list of the world’s top 10 most employable according to the latest Global University Employability Ranking published annually by Emerging, a French human resource consultancy.

NUS’ initiatives to enhance the employability of its graduates include global study opportunities, residential living and learning experiences, as well as industry internships and immersion in entrepreneurial hubs in Asia and beyond.

Emerging’s global annual survey was conducted with 7,000 recruiters and managing directors of international companies from 22 countries. Together they represent employers that have recruited more than 250,000 young graduates in the past 12 months.

05 December 2018

SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), the government agency that gives out grants and funding for lifelong training, takes fraudulent activity very serious and is building up its defences against fraud.

It has announced that it has set up a fraud and enforcement division to monitor and investigate suspicious claims.

SSG said that it has set up a partnership with the Government Technology Agency of Singapore, and other private sector consultants, to incorporate the use of data analytics in its fraud detection system.

This includes developing machine-learning algorithms to detect anomalies in claim submissions. Confirmed fraudulent claims will be fed back into the algorithms to sharpen the system’s ability at detecting future fraudulent claims.

Data is also being verified with other government agencies such as the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.