The National University of Singapore (NUS) is an autonomous research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as a medical college, it is the oldest institute of higher learning (IHL) in Singapore, as well as the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered. NUS is a comprehensive research university with an entrepreneurial dimension. It offers a wide range of disciplines, including the sciences, medicine and dentistry, design and environment, law, arts and social sciences, engineering, business, computing and music in both undergraduate and postgraduate education. The university counts among its alumni four Prime Ministers or Presidents of Singapore and two Prime Ministers of Malaysia.
NUS is ranked 1st in Singapore & the whole of Asia, and 22nd in the world by the 2018 Times Higher Education,[4] and 15th in the world (2nd in Singapore) by the 2018 QS World University Rankings.[5] NUS was named the world’s 4th (first in Singapore) most international university in a 2017 study by Times Higher Education.[6] In the 2016 Times Higher Education Global Employability University Ranking, an annual ranking of university graduates’ employability, NUS was ranked 15th in the world (first in Singapore). NUS is ranked 20th (first in Singapore) in the 2017 CWTS Leiden Ranking, a ranking of the scientific performance of more than 900 universities worldwide.
NUS’ main campus is located in southwestern part of Singapore adjacent to Kent Ridge, accommodating an area of 150 ha (0.58 sq mi).[9] Its Bukit Timah campus houses the Faculty of Law, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and some research institutes. The Duke-NUS Medical School, which is a postgraduate medical school, is located at the Outram campus.
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia’s Riau Islands to the south and Peninsular Malaysia to the north. Singapore’s territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 square kilometres or 50 square miles).
Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 as a trading post of the British East India Company; after the latter’s collapse in 1858, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from the UK in 1963 by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce.
Singapore is a global commerce, finance and transport hub. Its standings include: the most “technology-ready” nation (WEF), top International-meetings city (UIA), city with “best investment potential” (BERI), third-most competitive country, third-largest foreign exchange market, third-largest financial centre, third-largest oil refining and trading centre and the second-busiest container port. The country has also been identified as a tax haven.
Singapore ranks 5th on the UN Human Development Index and the 3rd highest GDP per capita. It is ranked highly in education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety and housing. Although income inequality is high, 90% of homes are owner-occupied. 38% of Singapore’s 5.6 million residents are permanent residents and other foreign nationals. There are four official languages: English (common and first language), Malay, Mandarin and Tamil; almost all Singaporeans are bilingual.
Singapore is a unitary multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The People’s Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959. The dominance of the PAP, coupled with a low level of press freedom and restrictions on civil liberties and political rights, has led to Singapore being classified by some as a flawed democracy. One of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is also the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat and a member of the East Asia Summit, Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth of Nations.