SINGAPORE: Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said support from a strong alumni is important for the success and continued growth of any university including the National University of Singapore (NUS).
He said alumni may return to teach, mentor students, serve on advisory boards or donate to support academic programmes and new initiatives, and these will help NUS become a better university.
More importantly,
the active interest and dedication of the alumni will also help forge a
stronger sense of identity and belonging among the NUS community.
Mr
Lee said this at a ceremony on Friday at the NUS where he was conferred
an Honorary Membership by the National University of Singapore Society
(NUSS), the largest graduate club in Singapore.
The conferment is to recognise Mr Lee's contribution to the nation.
NUSS
co-hosted the event with the NUS, which was also to honour donors who
gave S$37 million for the new University Town which will open next
month.
One of the donors - the NUSS community - initially
pledged to raise S$1 million for the University Town. But it has already
raised more than S$2 million so far and is committed to continue
raising funds over the next five years.
Mr Lee said the University Town is a strategic initiative to promote deeper interactions between students and faculty.
The University Town will also provide housing for 2,400 undergraduate and 1,700 graduate students.
"Students
in the four undergraduate residential colleges in University Town will
not just live together but will also take a number of courses in the
College which will have a small-group, multi-disciplinary learning
format. The courses will foster critical thinking about issues of global
importance, especially from the Asian perspective," said Mr Lee.
Mr Lee attended Raffles College from 1940 to 1941 when the Second World War intervened.
He
went to the University of Cambridge and after his return to Singapore,
he worked with the alumni of the University of Malaya and the Nanyang
University.
Previous recipients of the NUSS Honorary Membership
include, in order of conferment, Professor Maurice Baker, Emeritus
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, the late Emeritus Professor Kiang Ai Kim,
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Professor Lim Pin, Professor Shih Choon
Fong, NUS president Professor Tan Chorh Chuan and Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam.
- CNA /ls