Learning Beyond The Classroom
Photo by Sarah Ong
FEATURE by Natalie Kuan
The NUS University Town is redefining Singapore’s higher learning landscape with its new innovative model of teaching
It is 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, and the day is winding down for most students at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Kent Ridge Campus. A stone’s throw away, the NUS University Town (UTown) is a buzzing hive of activity. A slew of events, workshops and sharing sessions commence as lectures and seminars wrap for the day.
Second-year Political Science student Jeremy Koh hurries across UTown Green’s well-manicured lawn to the Tembusu College Multi-purpose hall, just in time for the debate on whether the UN should recognize Palestine as a state. Amira Arnon, the Israeli Ambassador to Singapore is slated to share her thoughts on the issue.
Across the lawn, Jeremy’s friend Adrian Seetho exits the Education Resource Centre (ERC) fresh from his seminar class of 15 people. Adrian is on his way to quiz Mr. Guan Ong, head of the investment team at Blue Rice Investment Management, about bond trading at the Master’s Tea session.
Such daily occurrences are part and parcel of UTown’s unique education curriculum, “the first of its kind in Singapore’s higher learning landscape,” says NUS President professor Tan Chorh Chuan.
Since opening its doors a few months ago, UTown has “redefined Singapore’s higher education landscape” with a slew of new and enriching learning experiences.
Its residential colleges, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, provide an “interactive personalized learning environment”, ranging from small class sizes to informal learning environments to specially tailored academic programmes.
Spaces are specially designed to integrate living and learning, allowing learning to extend beyond the classroom. It is commonplace for seminar discussions to spill over into the side cafes and other informal learning spaces.
“To me, one of the special experiences at UTown is the informal, chance meetings that take place as students make their way around campus,” said Professor John Richardson, Director, USP, and Master, of Cinnamon Residential College.
“From my office window, I see students bumping into professors, sitting with them, talking to them. That is invaluable.”
When contacted, a spokesperson for UTown revealed that “byenabling students and professors from various disciplines to interact inside and outside the classroom”, the UTown curriculum hopes to expose students to a problem solving multi-disciplinary approach, through their interactions with people outside their field of studies.
At present, there are two Residential Colleges (Tembusu and Cinnamon) located within UTown. A third college is slated to open in 2012.
UTown’s residential colleges are pioneers of a new innovative model of learning and teaching designed to combine the vibrancy of campus living with an exciting multidisciplinary academic programme.
Students staying in Tembusu College are automatically enrolled in the University Town Residential Programme (UTRP) where they will fulfill their academic requirements at their respective home Faculties and complete a UTRP core curriculum.
The URTP curriculum comprises of junior and senior seminars, and Ideas and Exposition modules (IEM) that are available to UTown residents only.
Class sizes are capped at no more than 15, allowing for a rigorous, interactive and highly personalised academic experience.This is in stark contrast to class sizes at NUS that range from 20 to 30 students for tutorials and may reach up to 400 students a lecture.
“The academic programme is a breath of fresh air,” says Dexter Tan, a third-year Communications and New Media student who has recently moved into UTown’s Tembusu College.
“For example, I attend a junior seminar where I study images, but with reference to a range of subjects, like philosophy, science and maths. As a media design enthusiast, this is refreshing and pushes the boundaries of understanding. And I also get to live and learn with and get to know students from different backgrounds and disciplines.”
The UTown learning environment is a melting pot of ideas and experiences where students from many faculties, departments and programmes come together to fulfill their UTRP requirements.
The other Residential College (Cinnamon) houses students from the University Scholars Programme (USP). The setting up of UTown has been a milestone for the interdisciplinary programme, transforming it into a fully-fledged college.
“Previously we were all staying in different halls scattered across the campus. Now with most of us staying in the same building we’ve become more close knit and have more opportunities to share our thoughts and opinions,” says third-year USP student Christabel Teo.
The USP programme provides talented students from different faculties with the opportunity to enrich their learning experiences through stimulating academic exchanges and community outreach activities.
At UTown, learning is not restricted to the confines of the classroom. A jam-packed weekly roster of events, workshops, lectures and sharing sessions hosted by distinguished guests from around the world, expose students to a variety of disciplines, thereby providing new insights and perspectives in defining and analyzing problems.
“I think it is good that they give us the opportunity to attend such talks, it is very interesting. We don’t have many opportunities like this back home,” said French foreign exchange student Christophe Decarin.
Christophe will be attending the "Trials Tribulations Triumphs" talk by Japanese ambassador Yoichi Suzuki on the FIFA world cup next week, his third talk since moving into Tembusu College in August.
With its new innovative model of teaching, UTown looks poised to redefine the field of higher education in Asia.
The NUS University Town is redefining Singapore’s higher learning landscape with its new innovative model of teaching
It is 5:30 p.m. on a Wednesday, and the day is winding down for most students at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Kent Ridge Campus. A stone’s throw away, the NUS University Town (UTown) is a buzzing hive of activity. A slew of events, workshops and sharing sessions commence as lectures and seminars wrap for the day.
Second-year Political Science student Jeremy Koh hurries across UTown Green’s well-manicured lawn to the Tembusu College Multi-purpose hall, just in time for the debate on whether the UN should recognize Palestine as a state. Amira Arnon, the Israeli Ambassador to Singapore is slated to share her thoughts on the issue.
Across the lawn, Jeremy’s friend Adrian Seetho exits the Education Resource Centre (ERC) fresh from his seminar class of 15 people. Adrian is on his way to quiz Mr. Guan Ong, head of the investment team at Blue Rice Investment Management, about bond trading at the Master’s Tea session.
Such daily occurrences are part and parcel of UTown’s unique education curriculum, “the first of its kind in Singapore’s higher learning landscape,” says NUS President professor Tan Chorh Chuan.
Since opening its doors a few months ago, UTown has “redefined Singapore’s higher education landscape” with a slew of new and enriching learning experiences.
Its residential colleges, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, provide an “interactive personalized learning environment”, ranging from small class sizes to informal learning environments to specially tailored academic programmes.
Spaces are specially designed to integrate living and learning, allowing learning to extend beyond the classroom. It is commonplace for seminar discussions to spill over into the side cafes and other informal learning spaces.
“To me, one of the special experiences at UTown is the informal, chance meetings that take place as students make their way around campus,” said Professor John Richardson, Director, USP, and Master, of Cinnamon Residential College.
“From my office window, I see students bumping into professors, sitting with them, talking to them. That is invaluable.”
When contacted, a spokesperson for UTown revealed that “byenabling students and professors from various disciplines to interact inside and outside the classroom”, the UTown curriculum hopes to expose students to a problem solving multi-disciplinary approach, through their interactions with people outside their field of studies.
At present, there are two Residential Colleges (Tembusu and Cinnamon) located within UTown. A third college is slated to open in 2012.
UTown’s residential colleges are pioneers of a new innovative model of learning and teaching designed to combine the vibrancy of campus living with an exciting multidisciplinary academic programme.
Students staying in Tembusu College are automatically enrolled in the University Town Residential Programme (UTRP) where they will fulfill their academic requirements at their respective home Faculties and complete a UTRP core curriculum.
The URTP curriculum comprises of junior and senior seminars, and Ideas and Exposition modules (IEM) that are available to UTown residents only.
Class sizes are capped at no more than 15, allowing for a rigorous, interactive and highly personalised academic experience.This is in stark contrast to class sizes at NUS that range from 20 to 30 students for tutorials and may reach up to 400 students a lecture.
“The academic programme is a breath of fresh air,” says Dexter Tan, a third-year Communications and New Media student who has recently moved into UTown’s Tembusu College.
“For example, I attend a junior seminar where I study images, but with reference to a range of subjects, like philosophy, science and maths. As a media design enthusiast, this is refreshing and pushes the boundaries of understanding. And I also get to live and learn with and get to know students from different backgrounds and disciplines.”
The UTown learning environment is a melting pot of ideas and experiences where students from many faculties, departments and programmes come together to fulfill their UTRP requirements.
The other Residential College (Cinnamon) houses students from the University Scholars Programme (USP). The setting up of UTown has been a milestone for the interdisciplinary programme, transforming it into a fully-fledged college.
“Previously we were all staying in different halls scattered across the campus. Now with most of us staying in the same building we’ve become more close knit and have more opportunities to share our thoughts and opinions,” says third-year USP student Christabel Teo.
The USP programme provides talented students from different faculties with the opportunity to enrich their learning experiences through stimulating academic exchanges and community outreach activities.
At UTown, learning is not restricted to the confines of the classroom. A jam-packed weekly roster of events, workshops, lectures and sharing sessions hosted by distinguished guests from around the world, expose students to a variety of disciplines, thereby providing new insights and perspectives in defining and analyzing problems.
“I think it is good that they give us the opportunity to attend such talks, it is very interesting. We don’t have many opportunities like this back home,” said French foreign exchange student Christophe Decarin.
Christophe will be attending the "Trials Tribulations Triumphs" talk by Japanese ambassador Yoichi Suzuki on the FIFA world cup next week, his third talk since moving into Tembusu College in August.
With its new innovative model of teaching, UTown looks poised to redefine the field of higher education in Asia.