To begin with , it is devoid of doubt that the consistently extremely high ranking of NUS inside the world-wide university education arena is really a powerful testament of the weight of the institution.
The speedy advancement of the university can even be noticed from casual observation without the need of the in-depth analysis by THE. With regards to research, the NUS medical school has forged alliance with the Duke Medical School, 1 of the best in the United states of america. The joint program motivates partnership in research as well as student exchange.
In terms of student development, the University Scholars Program and also the U-town residential program have included significantly variety into students' academic life, ushering in western education technique inside a liberal arts environment.
As a result, it may not be unexpected to find out the standing of NUS climb swiftly, as well as its standing within Singapore along with the entire world, a reputation that is definitely vital to draw the best university students along with instructors, whose influx enhances a virtuous cycle of the university's improvement.
However, you will discover prospective problems regarding the preoccupation with ranking by college as well as the general local community as a whole. The current method in assessing college is far from ideal and frequently open to critiques. Weight assigned to many areas, no matter how thoroughly conceived, is basically arbitrary.
A single major area of controversy lies with the balance involving research and teaching. A lecturer has to invest time in teaching undergraduates and carrying out research for publications. The former is taken as a major goal of creating a university even though the latter is often considered as a better criterion when evaluating the rating of a college.
If excessive focus is on how many quality papers a college has released inside the first-tier worldwide journals, for example, this sort of review bias will be translated into pressure for professors to publish.
Several universities, like Hong Kong University, have even placed a minimum quota around the volume of papers to be published anything. Even in the lack of an explicit quota, as in the instance of NUS, implicit stress of linking publication to tenure review is enough to nail the concept of 'publish or perish' in the heads of academicians.
Cost in putting more time in research is generally less time or attention allocated to undergraduate educating. This really is generally noticed in deficit of enthusiasm coming from academics as well as very poor availability of tutors who appear usually pre-occupied.
At the end of the day, what really does society stand to benefit if increased university rating mainly reflects higher quality research that is certainly basically immaterial to students?
In addition, some vital factors of higher education could possibly be underrepresented in appraisal of educational institutions. Despite the exceptional ranking of NUS, 1 problem continues to be unresolved by the university: academic liberty or autonomy. University as a notion represents liberty of thinking and expression which are engine of intellectual advancement of society.
On the other hand, NUS and quite a few other Asian educational institutions embarrassingly usually do not get outstanding credit for that facet. Actually, NUS president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan stated following the release of ranking that NUS continued progress is a outcome of constant help from the Singapore government. That is already a proof of the close tie between NUS along with the government. In actual fact, much of the college funds originates from the government.
The compromise in academic independence is best seen within the political science division of NUS that has come under scrutiny for its obvious lack of critical voices. The division has been labeled as "docile", not willing to assert itself as an unbiased voice within the political discussion.
On the other hand, majority of the established schools in foreign countries are private and they enjoy substantially increased liberty of intellectual inquiry that ultimately benefits the whole society.
In reality, the formation of Yale-NUS Liberal Arts College a couple of years ago caused significantly discontentment about the move from the Yale community that takes the Singapore political environment as not really beneficial for liberal arts learning.
It's suffice to say that in addition to improving university ranking, the institution also requires to meet its social expectation by locating a fine line between having government backing and remaining politically impartial.
Without doubt just before it makes THE delighted , it ought to please Singapore students, public observers and educators first, who're the real stakeholders of the education within the country.
The speedy advancement of the university can even be noticed from casual observation without the need of the in-depth analysis by THE. With regards to research, the NUS medical school has forged alliance with the Duke Medical School, 1 of the best in the United states of america. The joint program motivates partnership in research as well as student exchange.
In terms of student development, the University Scholars Program and also the U-town residential program have included significantly variety into students' academic life, ushering in western education technique inside a liberal arts environment.
As a result, it may not be unexpected to find out the standing of NUS climb swiftly, as well as its standing within Singapore along with the entire world, a reputation that is definitely vital to draw the best university students along with instructors, whose influx enhances a virtuous cycle of the university's improvement.
However, you will discover prospective problems regarding the preoccupation with ranking by college as well as the general local community as a whole. The current method in assessing college is far from ideal and frequently open to critiques. Weight assigned to many areas, no matter how thoroughly conceived, is basically arbitrary.
A single major area of controversy lies with the balance involving research and teaching. A lecturer has to invest time in teaching undergraduates and carrying out research for publications. The former is taken as a major goal of creating a university even though the latter is often considered as a better criterion when evaluating the rating of a college.
If excessive focus is on how many quality papers a college has released inside the first-tier worldwide journals, for example, this sort of review bias will be translated into pressure for professors to publish.
Several universities, like Hong Kong University, have even placed a minimum quota around the volume of papers to be published anything. Even in the lack of an explicit quota, as in the instance of NUS, implicit stress of linking publication to tenure review is enough to nail the concept of 'publish or perish' in the heads of academicians.
Cost in putting more time in research is generally less time or attention allocated to undergraduate educating. This really is generally noticed in deficit of enthusiasm coming from academics as well as very poor availability of tutors who appear usually pre-occupied.
At the end of the day, what really does society stand to benefit if increased university rating mainly reflects higher quality research that is certainly basically immaterial to students?
In addition, some vital factors of higher education could possibly be underrepresented in appraisal of educational institutions. Despite the exceptional ranking of NUS, 1 problem continues to be unresolved by the university: academic liberty or autonomy. University as a notion represents liberty of thinking and expression which are engine of intellectual advancement of society.
On the other hand, NUS and quite a few other Asian educational institutions embarrassingly usually do not get outstanding credit for that facet. Actually, NUS president, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan stated following the release of ranking that NUS continued progress is a outcome of constant help from the Singapore government. That is already a proof of the close tie between NUS along with the government. In actual fact, much of the college funds originates from the government.
The compromise in academic independence is best seen within the political science division of NUS that has come under scrutiny for its obvious lack of critical voices. The division has been labeled as "docile", not willing to assert itself as an unbiased voice within the political discussion.
On the other hand, majority of the established schools in foreign countries are private and they enjoy substantially increased liberty of intellectual inquiry that ultimately benefits the whole society.
In reality, the formation of Yale-NUS Liberal Arts College a couple of years ago caused significantly discontentment about the move from the Yale community that takes the Singapore political environment as not really beneficial for liberal arts learning.
It's suffice to say that in addition to improving university ranking, the institution also requires to meet its social expectation by locating a fine line between having government backing and remaining politically impartial.
Without doubt just before it makes THE delighted , it ought to please Singapore students, public observers and educators first, who're the real stakeholders of the education within the country.
About the Author:
The author is a graduate of the university in Singapore and has been blogging about education landscape in Singapore in the last 5 years. Since his graduation, he has been providing home tuition to students , enabling them to realize their goal of being a graduate in a prestigious university.
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