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SINGAPORE: The National University of Singapore (NUS) plans to establish a College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) next year as part of a push toward broad-based and interdisciplinary education.
Students admitted to the university will belong to both the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and the Faculty of Sciences (FOS).
They will have access to majors and minors offered at both colleges, as well as all three types of four-year degree programs: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Social Sciences, and Bachelor of Science.
Preliminary consultations are underway with members of both faculties, NUS said on Tuesday (September 22), adding that the new university, if approved, could begin accepting students as early as the 2021/2022 academic year.
“The proposal is a work in progress and is expected to evolve, as internal and external consultations by the university leadership and the FASS and FOS deanships take place over the next few months,” said NUS.
The university said the university’s proposed curriculum structure will allow “greater flexibility and cross-pollination of disciplines” in the humanities, social sciences, science and mathematics.
“The rapid pace of change in many industries means that the old model of intense academic specialization will no longer work for our young adults,” said Professor Tan Eng Chye, President of NUS.
“Rather, graduates into the workforce will need a breath of knowledge, depth, as well as the ability to integrate multiple disciplines to solve complex problems,” he added.
“They will also need to embrace a spirit of lifelong learning to ride the waves of change and disruption. The proposed NUS College of Humanities and Sciences will equip our students with market-relevant skills to thrive in the economy of the future.”
According to a working draft on internal consultations that was distributed to FASS and FOS teachers, one-third of CHS education will be devoted to a common curriculum that will “deliver in a concerted intellectual breadth.”
This includes equipping students with “essential foundational skills” in reading, writing, critical thinking, and numeracy. Modules will likely include integrated humanities, Asian studies, and scientific research.
Courses like design thinking, data analysis, computational thinking, and artificial intelligence will also prepare students for the digital economy, NUS said.
“The CHS educational model will mark a major shift from NUS’s traditional discipline-centered approach to college education, to a flexible and broad-based education,” the university added.
