Deputy president (academic affairs) and provost national university of singapore

Professor Tan Eng Chye
Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost
National University of Singapore
Professor Tan Eng Chye is Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost of the National University of
Singapore (NUS). He oversees NUS’ faculties and schools by providing strategic directions and setting
academic policies. His responsibilities include admission policies and processes, educational quality
assurance, budget and resource allocation for the faculties and schools, and the development and
implementation of new educational initiatives. Professor Tan is responsible for the appointment,
promotion and tenure process, as well as the reward and incentive systems for academic staff.
Professor Tan obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics with first-class honours in 1985 at NUS
and his PhD at Yale University in 1989. He joined NUS as a Senior Tutor of the Department of
Mathematics in 1985. Professor Tan holds visiting positions at various universities overseas such as
Rutgers University, University of Washington at Seattle, University of California at Berkeley and
University of Maryland, the US; Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan; as well as the Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology.


Globalization Strategies of
NUS
TAN Eng Chye
Provost, National University of Singapore


Growing Competition …
• Intensifying Asian competition especially
China, South Korea
• Private US universities amassing
endowments
• Targetted investments around the world
for higher education peaks
• Overseas campuses – growing trend

2


Competition is a driver
Collaboration is a strategy

3


Our growth trajectory has been
dramatic …
1998

2013

Change

Student enrolment

24,300

37,100

53%

External research
funding

$50m
(total cash

received)

$440m
(total income
received in FY)

8 times

1,350

1,600

22%

Tenure-track faculty

But faculty numbers & space only catching up recently
with rapid expansion of enrolment and research
4


NUS Vision

A leading global university
centred in Asia,
influencing the future
Mission
To transform the way people think and do things
through education, research and service
5

Being a “Global” University
1. Vision
2. Recruits worldwide
3. Innovates education for the globalized world

4. Achieves high research impact & application
5. Adapts & sets international benchmarks
6. Node in influential global networks
7. Thought leadership
6


Innovates education for globalised world:
Being effective in many cross-cultural settings as a core
differentiating quality of NUS graduates
Bring the world to NUS

Bring NUS students
to the world

Highly diverse
Students and faculty from 100 countries
18% undergraduates and 60% graduate students from abroad
Enhanced interaction through residential
college learning
Inbound exchange students
>1,800 per year
Joint-degree programmes in NUS

E.g. Duke-NUS, Singapore-MIT Alliance, Georgia Tech-NUS

7


Innovates education for globalised world:
Being effective in many cross-cultural settings as a core
differentiating quality of NUS graduates
Bring the world
to NUS

Bring NUS students
to the world
67% undergraduates go overseas;
30% for > 6 months

85 joint- & double-degree programmes
with 40 renowned overseas universities
8 NUS Overseas Colleges

8


Eight NUS Overseas Colleges
NOC in Silicon Valley (2002)
•
•

Courses in Stanford
Focus on tech startups in Silicon Valley

NOC in Philadelphia (2003)
•
•

Courses in UPenn
Focus on bio/med tech

NOC in Shanghai (2004)
•
•

Courses at Fudan University
Focus on China-related business

NOC in Stockholm (2005)
•
•

Courses at KTH Royal Institute of
Technology
Focus on mobile/IT with European
perspective

NOC in Bangalore (2008)
•

Focus on understanding/engaging India

NOC in Beijing (2009)

•

Tsinghua

NOC in Israel (2011)
NOC in New York City (2013)
9


Experiential Entrepreneurial Education
Outputs
New York

Stockholm

Shanghai
Beijing

Silicon Valley

Singapore

Figures updated as of March 2014

Non-profit initiatives promoting entrepreneurship

Founded / Active startups by alumni
Competitions/awards won by NOC students & alumni

7

180 / 107
90


Successful Buy-outs of NUS Companies
• Notable successful NUS companies include:
 Patsnap (noted to be one of the world’s fastest
growing Intellectual Property (IP) platforms; serves
more than 250 institutional customers in 30 countries
worldwide)
 tenCube (acquired by McAfee)
 PeekSpy (acquired by eBay subsidiary, StubHub)
 TechSailor (acquired by India conglomerate To the
New)
 Zopim (acquired by Zendesk for ~US$30M)
• All five companies were founded by NOC graduates and
were supported by the NUS Enterprise incubator


tenCube
• mobile security application
• almost S$1m from
investments and grants
• selected as one of the top
10 wireless innovations in
Asia Pacific by Frost and
Sullivan in Feb 2006
• McAfee bought it for >$10m
Rishi (SoC), Darius (ECE) and Varum (SoC)

are tenCube’s founders. Varun was Darius
room-mate in the NOC Silicon Valley and
Rishi is Varun's project-mate.
12


University Partnerships
Many Types …. Which are most impactful for you?
• Concurrent Degrees:
•

NUS and French Grand Ecoles concurrent degrees – 3 degrees in 5
years

• Joint Degrees:
•
•

NUS-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill joint undergraduate
degrees in Science, Humanities and Social Sciences
Joint NUS-UCLA Executive MBA

• Local Presence:
•
•
•

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, with Johns Hopkins’ Peabody
Institute
Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, with Duke University

Yale-NUS College, with Yale University
13


YaleNUSCollege – designed from scratch to
enable educational vision & goals

14


Being a “Global” University
• makes it easy for NUS to partner
with universities around the world
• makes NUS stand out especially in Asia
• contributes to Singapore’s aspiration
to become a great global city
15


Our critical strategic approach
•

Clarity about goals

•

Singular focus on talent and quality

•

Leverage on strategic partnerships

•
•

Keep making large step-change enhancements, e.g.,
University Town
Invest in a few quantum-leap programmes to leap-frog
ahead: e.g., Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, YaleNUS College

16


THE END

THANKS

17


Promotion & Tenure (P&T) –
Tenure Track Scheme
1. Having outstanding faculty members is a significant part of what
makes NUS a world-class university.
2. Appointing and retaining the best candidates are two of the most
important decisions the University collectively makes.
3. The P&T system at NUS is a part of the University’s programme in
faculty development. Promotion and the award of tenure are
gestures of the University’s commitment to the faculty member in
recognition of excellence in teaching, research and service.

4. Levels of promotion and tenure under the Tenure Track Scheme:
• Promotion to full Professor
• Promotion to full Professor with tenure
• Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure*
• Tenure
*promotion and tenure for this application type may not be decoupled.


Promotion & Tenure (P&T) –
Tenure Track Scheme
5. At NUS, the maximum period of appointment without tenure for
Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor is up to 9, 6
and 3 years respectively.
6. This is the process flow for:
• Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure (for Assistant
Professors)
• Award of tenure (for untenured Associate Professors).

DEC

Head

FPTC

Dean

Legend
DEC : Department Evaluation Committee
FPTC: Faculty Promotion & Tenure Committee
UPTC: University Promotion & Tenure Committee

RC: Remuneration Committee

UPTC

Provost

President