Engineering a New Education Paradigm

Fabius Chen | fabiuschen@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication

Mar 11, 2009

The National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Faculty of Engineering has announced a new, Design-Centric Engineering Curriculum (DCC) that will begin in academic year 2009/10.

With the world confronting challenges like climate change, natural disasters and ageing-related healthcare, the DCC will equip engineers of tomorrow with the skills required to solve complex and multidisciplinary problems.

This progressive engineering programme will allow students to grasp in greater depth the connections between theory and practice, from component to systems level.

Thematic design projects, revolving around the themes of Future Transportation Systems, Engineering in Medicine and Smart Cities will provide the foundation of students’ understanding of engineering concepts.

In addition, students will have the flexibility to choose between technical and non-technical modules, in order to specifically address the design aspects they have been assigned.

Together, these will encourage students to identify and acquire relevant knowledge through self-learning.

Professor Chan Eng Soon, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said: “Such a design cum problem-based learning approach will encourage creativity and thinking out-of-the-box.

“The increased exposure to systems thinking and engineering technology management made available in this new learning environment will better equip graduates to handle large-scale complex technical problems of the future.

“Moreover, these projects will make students recognise the importance of profit-cost issues and inspire them towards innovation and entrepreneurship.”

As a catalyst to the DCC, the Faculty of Engineering will be establishing an Engineering Design and Innovation Centre (EDIC).

This will provide a platform for both staff and students of different disciplines to interact and exchange ideas to address projects that require a wide spectrum of expertise.

The EDIC will be managed and run by academic staff with particular skills and experience in handling, teaching and supervising multi-faceted design problems.

Finally, a Global Engineering Programme (GEP) will be put in place to nurture the top engineering students of each cohort.

Selected students will receive a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) degree from the university after three years, followed by a graduate engineering degree from a partner university at the end of the fourth year.

An agreement has already been established with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s School of Engineering, while arrangements with both Cambridge and Oxford universities are being finalised.

Through the specially-tailored Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programmes, Students will also gain early exposure to research at top universities.

This will afford them contact with leading researchers in the field and the chance of future PhD studies under their supervision.

Meanwhile, those with an interest in entrepreneurship can choose to participate in the NUS Overseas Colleges programme, where they will gain experience in technology start-ups at overseas colleges like Silicon Valley.

Elaborating on the key features of the programme, Prof Chan said: “Students will enjoy full scholarship support by NUS, in partnership with external agencies. This will cover the B.Eng degree at NUS as well as one year of graduate studies at a top overseas university.

“The faculty will encourage GEP students to pursue a PhD in order to maximise their potential. We are interacting with research agencies to source for support for students who elect to do so.

“GEP students will be mentored by a select pool of faculty members and will be able to participate in a rich myriad of co-curricular activities that will enrich and enhance their communications skills and leadership.”