Nanyang Technological University

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Nanyang Technological University**

Established	1955
Type	Autonomous
Chancellor	President S R Nathan
President	Dr Su Guaning
Faculty	1,361
Staff	3,842
Students	24,258
Undergraduates	16,837
Postgraduates	7,421
Location	Nanyang Avenue, Singapore
Website	www.ntu.edu.sg

Nanyang Technological University (Abbreviation: NTU; Simplified Chinese: 南洋理工大学; pinyin: Nányáng Lǐgōng Dàxué, abbreviated 南大; Malay: Universiti Teknologi Nanyang) is a major research university in Singapore. The University's garden campus, known as the Yunnan Garden campus is in the South-western part of Singapore Island.

1 History
2 Campus
3 Colleges, Schools and Institutes
4 Research Institutes and Centres
5 Finances
6 Internet Learning on Campus
7 Alumni
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

[edit] History

Image:Nantah Gate.jpg

NTU has a distinguished lineage with roots that date back to 1955, when Nanyang University (Nantah), the first Chinese-language university in Southeast Asia, was set up with donations from people of all walks of life from Singapore and the region. The idea of establishing such a university was first mooted by Mr Tan Lark Sye and he himself donated a heft $5 million towards its establishment. The lush university grounds - the Yunnan Garden campus - was donated by the Hokkien Huay Kuen, a clan association.

Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI) was established on the same campus in 1981 with government funding to educate practice-oriented engineers for the burgeoning Singapore economy. Three schools of Engineering were formed and NTI was named "one of the best engineering institutions in the world" by the Commonwealth Engineering council in 1985. NTI admitted its first batch of 582 engineering students in July 1982. As the Institute developed, courses other than engineering were offered over the years -- Accounting (1987), Business, Computer Engineering (1989), Material Engineering, Arts with Diploma in Education, Science with Diploma in Education (1991) and Communication Studies (1993).

In 1991, NTI was reconstituted and became Nanyang Technological University with the absorption of the National Institute of Education, the only tertiary institute for teachers in Singapore. NIE is an autonomous institute of NTU. The alumni rolls of the former Nanyang University were transferred to NTU in 1996.

In 2005, NTU celebrated her golden jubilee. The 50th Anniversary celebrations marked the unification of the three chapters of NTU's rich heritage - Nanyang University, Nanyang Technological Institute and the National Institute of Education.

NTU also opened three new schools in 2005: the School of Art, Design and Media - Singapore's first professional art school offering degree courses in art, design and interactive digital media; the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, which offers programmes in Chinese, Economics, English, Psychology and Sociology; and the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences that produces talented graduates in electronics, education, nanotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

In April 2006, NTU was corporatised as an autonomous university. With this autonomy, NTU is able to enhance its education and research, taking it to greater heights on the world stage.

NTU was ranked 61th globally by The Times Higher Education Supplement in the 2006 ranking of the world's best universities. Placed 15th among technology universities, NTU remains well within the upper echelons of the world's best science and technology universities.

Image:NTU Administration Building.JPG

Image:NTU former administrative building front.jpg

NTU has 4 colleges, comprising 12 schools. The College of Engineering, with six schools focused on technology innovation, enjoys wide renown and currently ranks fourth in the world in engineering publications. The College of Science is at the forefront of Singapore's life sciences and science initiatives, while the Nanyang Business School (which is the College of Business) offers one of the world's top 100 MBA programmes. The College of Humanities and Arts boasts Singapore's first professional art school, the Humanities and Social Science School, and the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, one of the best communication and information schools in Asia. The School is named after the late Dr Wee Kim Wee, former President of Singapore who was a highly respected journalist and diplomat before he became Singapore's President.

The 13th school, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, named in memory of one of the founding fathers of Singapore, Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, will be inaugurated in 2007. An important component of this autonomous school is the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, long recognised as a world authority on terrorism.

NTU has in place multi-country programmes and initiatives with established institutions worldwide. Some examples of key partners include MIT, Stanford University, Cornell University, Caltech, University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University; world-class universities in Asia such as Beijing University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Waseda, IIT of India; and top European universities like Cambridge University, Imperial College, HSR (University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, University of St Gallen, University of Technology of Compiegne and University of Technology of Troyes.

NTU's mission is to nurture creative and entrepreneurial leaders through a broad education in diverse disciplines.

[edit] Campus

Image:NTU North Spine.jpg

The University has a 2 km² beautiful garden campus well-known for its lush landscape and undulating terrain is in the south-western part of Singapore, some 25 km from the city centre. This is the Yunnan Garden Campus. The original part of the campus was built in 1986, and the campus buildings are laid out on a master plan drawn up by world famous architect Kenzo Tange.

The campus is well-equipped with modern facilities for teaching and research. Members of the University community study and work in state-of-the art and well-equipped laboratories, lecture theatres and tutorial rooms. The new School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences building, which is under construction, houses laboratories that are designed along those at Oxford University and will be the best equipped and most modern of laboratories among Singapore universities. Another iconic building is the School of Art, Design and Media. The grassy-sloped roofs mimic the rolling hills of the garden campus.

The campus boasts a high-tech e-learning infrastructure. Seminars and lectures are supported by facilities that allow multi-media presentations, video-conferencing and simultaneous communication between different lecture theatres and venues.

Staff and students can select to live in comfortable quarters and residential halls within the NTU Campus, and have access to a wide range of leisure and recreational facilities.

In late 2000, NTU's National Institute of Education shifted into its new, state-of-the-art, $400 million campus at the NTU grounds.

[edit] Colleges, Schools and Institutes

Image:NTU School of Communication and Information.jpg

College of Engineering [1] - As a result of the rapid growth of the computer engineering and materials engineering programmes, the School of Applied Science was, with effect from 10 July 2000, reorganised into the School of Computer Engineering and the School of Materials Science & Engineering.

School of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering (SCBE)[2]
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) [3]
School of Computer Engineering (SCE)[4]
School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering (EEE) [5]
School of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) [6]
School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) [7]

College of Science

School of Biological Sciences (SBS) [8]
School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences (SPMS) [9]

Nanyang Business School

Nanyang Business School(NBS) [10]

College of Humanities and Arts

School of Art, Design & Media (ADM) [11]
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information (SCI) [12]
School of Humanities & Social Sciences (HSS) [13]

Institutes

National Institute of Education (NIE) [14]
Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)

[edit] Research Institutes and Centres

NTU host numerous research institute and centers that were built for advancing science and technology, transmiting knowledge as well as conserving values and cultures.

Research Centres within Schools

Asian Business Case Centre (AsiaCase.com)
Asian Commerce and Economics Studies Centre (ACES)
Advanced Design and Modelling Laboratory
Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC)
Centre for Accounting and Auditing Research (CAAR)
Centre for Advanced Information Systems (CAIS)
Centre for Advanced Numerical Engineering Simulations (CANES)
Centre for Asia Pacific Technology Law and Policy (CAPTEL)
Centre for Cultural Intelligence (CCI)
Centre for Research in Financial Service (CREFS)
Centre for Supply Chain Management (CSCM)
Centre for Transportation Studies (CTS)
Centre for Chinese Language & Culture (CCLC)
Drug Discovery Centre
Economic Growth Centre
Human Resource Round Table (HARRT)
Information Management Research Centre (IMARC)
Nanyang Centre for Supercomputing and Visualisation (NCSV)
Parallel and Distributed Computing Centre (PDCC)
Singapore Internet Research Centre

Interdisciplinary Research Clusters

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Engineering Cluster (BPE Cluster)
- Biomedical Engineering Research Centre (BMERC)
- Centre for Biotechnology (CBT)
- Centre for Chiral and Pharmaceutical Engineering (CCPE)
- Computer-integrated Medical Intervention Laboratory (CIMIL)
- Physiological Mechanics Laboratory (PML)

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Cluster (NanoCluster)
- Advanced Materials Research Centre (AMRC)
- Facility for Analysis, Characterisation, Testing and Simulation (FACTS)
- Microelectronics Centre (MEC)
- MicroMachines Centre (MMC)
- Photonics Research Centre (PhRC)
- Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (PEN) Centre

Intelligent Devices and Systems Cluster
- Centre for Computational Intelligence (C2i)
- Centre for High Performance Embedded Systems (CHiPES)
- Centre for Human Factors and Ergonomics (CHFE)
- Centre for Integrated Circuits and Systems (CICS)
- Centre for Intelligent Machines (CIM)
- Centre for Mechanics of Micro-Systems (CMMS)
- Robotics Research Centre (RRC)

Advanced Computing and Media Cluster
- Centre for Advanced Media Technology (CAMTech)
- Interaction and Entertainment Research Centre (IERC)
- BioInformatics Research Centre (BIRC)

InfoComm Cluster
- Network Technology Research Centre (NTRC)
- Positioning and Wireless Technology Centre (PWTC)
- Centre for Multimedia and Network Technology (CeMNet)
- Centre for Signal Processing (CSP)
- Centre for Information Security (CIS)

Other Institutes and Centers

Centre for Research on Small Enterprise Development (CRSED)
Chinese Heritage Centre (CHC)
Information Communication Institute of Singapore (ICIS)
Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering (IESE)
Nanyang Technopreneurship Center (NTC)

Joint Centres with External Organizations

Energetic Materials Research Centre (EMRC)
Intelligent Systems Centre (IntelliSys)
NTU-CIDB Centre for Advanced Construction Studies (CACS)
NTU-MINDEF Protective Technology Research Centre (PTRC)
NTU-MPA Maritime Research Centre
NTU-NEA Environmental Engineering Research Centre (EERC)
NTU-PWD Geotechnical Research Centre (GRC)
NTU-SGI Centre for Graphics & Imaging Technology (CGIT)
Satellite Engineering Centre (SEC)
Temasek Laboratories@NTU
Thales@NTU

[edit] Finances

NTU receives funding mainly from the Government through the Ministry of Education. A part of these funds comes from tuition fees and other sources of income. For development projects, separate funding is provided by the Government. From 1 April 2006, the university has become autonomous, or privatised; this gives the university more latitude when making decisions in management, strategic planning, tuition fees, and admission policy.

[edit] Internet Learning on Campus

The University is at the forefront of education and learning through the World Wide Web. The University is connected to the Internet and all the facilities and resources available over the Internet are accessible by anyone on the campus network. The large campus network, which links together all computing systems on the campus, is managed by the University's Centre for IT Services (CITS).

To supplement the fixed line campus network, NTU has implemented a campus-wide wireless network by the end of 2000. This high-speed wireless network, capable of a transfer rate of up to 11 megabits per second, enables NTU staff and students equipped with mobile devices such as notebooks, PCs and PDAs to access all networked services from practically anywhere on the campus without the need of a hardwired network connection.

Currently, NTU also provides e-learning services via edveNTUre ([15]). This is an advanced learning eco-system in which academic staff and students use appropriate technology for purposeful teaching and learning. Besides providing a repository of lecture recordings, lecture notes in PDF / powerpoint slides, it also facilitates learning activities for collaboration, discussion, assessment and project work. During term time, the usage typically by the community of staff and students exceeds 3 million page views weekly.