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”.