SINGAPORE: Singapore's fourth public-funded university, which is scheduled to open its doors in 2011, has been named the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SU).
Its founding president is Thomas Magnanti, who is an institute professor with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Professor Magnanti's appointment was announced by the new university's Board of Trustees on Thursday.
During his three-year term of appointment, Prof Magnanti will be on leave from the MIT faculty and will devote his time fully to the new Singapore university.
The new university will admit its first intake of up to 500 students in two years and students will have four degree programmes to choose from.
These will be in the areas of Architecture & Sustainable Design, Engineering Product Design, Engineering Systems & System Design, and Information Engineering & Design.
First-year students will be exposed to foundation studies in the areas of mathematics, science, introductory humanities and social sciences – all in the context of design. They will also get to learn about entrepreneurship and management during each of the four-year degree programme.
The medium-sized university will eventually cater to some 4,000 undergraduates and 2,000 graduates.
Prof Magnanti said the university will be well-poised to serve Singapore, the region and the world.
"We'll focus on trying to create what we call technical grounded leaders - people who have technology in their hearts and their soul and who will go out to the marketplace with a well-grounded education, and be able to lead all of us, economically and socially, to the future," he said.
The Board said choosing the right person for the top post of SU president was a lengthy process.
Philip Ng, chairman of SU's Board of Trustees, said: "Tom Magnanti is an eminent academician. It was an international search for the founding president that spanned from Singapore... to the far reaches of the world, and we found the right person in Tom Magnanti."
The Board said Professor Magnanti was also chosen because of his familiarity with Singapore. He had spent a considerable time in Singapore over the last 10 years with the Singapore-MIT alliance. He was also the former dean from the School of Engineering at MIT.
His appointment also reflects the close relationship that SU is expected to have with MIT. The new university is looking to collaborate with MIT in the form of getting experienced professors from MIT to play a leading role in the development of SU's curriculum and exchanging research and education activities with one another.
On discussions to collaborate with a top Chinese university, the Board said details are still being finalised and will be made known before the end of the year.
The university may do away with traditional academic faculties and departments. Its Board said the university may be organised according to technology and science clusters instead. This means academics may not be organised or separated into the four different programmes offered in the university.
The Board said the move will support the inter-disciplinary nature of the university's programmes and encourage collaborations across disciplines.
It said details on the admission process and school fees will be finalised at a later date. The SU will be located at the Changi Business Park, by 2015.
The location of its interim campus will be announced by early next year.
By Hetty Musfirah, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 29 October 2009 1417 hrs
