The National
University of Singapore campus.PHOTO: ST FILE
They are providing new degree options, making
more use of technology in classrooms
Universities that offer established degree
courses - such as law, medicine and engineering - review them constantly to
keep them relevant and attractive.
In Singapore's changing higher education
landscape, a greater variety of degree options has been offered in the past few
years. This is to cater to a wider range of interests among students looking to
further their education.
Universities contacted said adjustments made
to their established degree offerings include strengthening alumni networks,
boosting opportunities for global exposure, attracting professors from top
institutions and tapping on technology and progressive teaching methods.
The two existing law
schools - at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore
Management University (SMU) - for instance, already offer sought-after law
degrees. Law courses typically take in top A-level students, or polytechnic
graduates with perfect or near-perfect grade point averages. But next year, another tertiary institution,
SIM University (UniSIM), will start a law school here.
The NUS law faculty, widely regarded as
Asia's leader, has close to 60 years of history.
Its dean, Professor Simon Chesterman, said
the network students build at his school will hold them in good stead
throughout their legal careers. "For them, the friends and mentors they
work with at law school will go on to be their colleagues," he said.
The SMU School of Law, which took in its
first batch of students in 2007, may not have as much history as NUS. To
attract students and adapt to their learning styles today, it uses creative
tools, such as animation and games, in the classrooms.
For a course on criminal law, for instance,
an animation tool was developed to re-enact a real murder case in Singapore. At
certain points during the animation, questions pertaining to the case are
displayed and students are prompted to visit a forum to discuss relevant
concepts.
The animation, which tracks students'
learning progress via the completed scenes, requires them to review their
course materials during and outside class.
Associate Professor Tan Swee Liang, director
at SMU's Centre for Teaching Excellence, said: "In an age dominated by
technology and social media, we have to think beyond the traditional
instructional methods to cater to the new generation of learners.
"For the law discipline, these tools can
help to demystify complex contexts and make it easy for students to comprehend
them, and make learning engaging and interactive."
UniSIM said its School of Law will also tap
on technology, by using a blended learning approach, which includes e-learning
as well as classes conducted in the evenings and weekends.
In medicine, another field of study leading
to a degree, students can now turn to Singapore's latest medical institution,
the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
This school, which opened its doors in 2013,
was set up by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Imperial College
London, which is ranked highly for its medical degree.
Professor Kam Chan Hin, deputy provost for
education at NTU, said students are getting a "rigorous curriculum".
"The learning pedagogy is innovative,
with no lectures, and team- based learning," he said.
"Online learning materials, early
exposure to patients from year one, and simulation training using actors are
all part of the learning."
For decades, the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of
Medicine, started in 1905, was the only medical school for undergraduates here.
Another medical school here, the Duke-NUS
Medical School, was established by Duke University in the United States and NUS
about 10 years ago to train graduate students.
The Yong Loo Lin school's dean, Associate
Professor Yeoh Khay Guan, said it refines the curriculum to keep pace with new
healthcare challenges, such as meeting the needs of an ageing population.
The school recently expanded its geriatric medicine
module to prepare students to better care for the rising number of older people
here.
It has also introduced simulation training
that tests and trains medical students to work on realistic clinical situations
as a team.
NUS is also revamping its engineering
curriculum to get undergraduates excited about the profession and the diverse
career paths they can pursue - from research and development to
entrepreneurship.
For instance, students will get to take new
hands-on modules early in their studies.
Besides training students for chosen fields
in engineering, from mechanical to environmental, NUS will open up
specialisation tracks for students in research and development, and in the
design and innovation aspects of engineering.
At NTU, which counts engineering among its
strengths, programmes are also updated to meet the future needs of the
workforce.
Increasingly, its courses allow students to
pursue areas beyond their core discipline of study. For instance, a popular
programme is renaissance engineering, where students study disciplines such as
engineering, business and liberal arts.
Prof Kam said: "In the new global
workplace, many problems require interdisciplinary solutions. Today's work
challenges go beyond any single field."
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