Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a university in Singapore. It was started in 1981 as Nanyang Technological Institute and became a university in 1992. It is officially regarded as a continuation of the former Nanyang University (NU).
History
In 1981, Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI) was started as a school to train students to become engineers. It occupied the site of the former Nanyang University in Jurong West, which was closed in 1978 due to falling enrolment. In 1992, NTI was merged with the National Institute of Education and renamed Nanyang Technological University.
In 1996, the alumni rolls of Nanyang University, which contain the names of all NU students who graduated, were transferred to NTU. Between 1978 and that time, the rolls had been stored at the National University of Singapore.
NTU has since acquired the Chinese abbreviation of its predecessor, Nantah (南大). In 2001, there were plans to rename NTU to "Nanyang University", but these plans were aborted. The university's administration explained that NTU still lacked diversity in its non-engineering academic disciplines, which made it unsuitable to be renamed.
Colleges and schools
As of 2007, NTU has the following colleges and schools.
- College of Engineering
- School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- School of Computer Engineering
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- School of Materials Science and Engineering
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- College of Science
- School of Biological Sciences
- School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
- College of Business, more commonly known as Nanyang Business School
- College of Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences
- School of Art, Design and Media
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Two other schools, the National Institute of Education and S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, are run autonomously.
Academics
Facilities
NTU has two campuses, the Yunnan Gardens campus (which was the site of Nanyang University) and a newer campus in Buona Vista which was opened in 2007.
In the Yunnan Garden campus, the academic-use facilities are concentrated in two complexes, the North Spine and the South Spine, which are linked to each other. The main complex buildings house common facilities such as tutorial rooms and lecture theatres; wings that branch out perpendicular to these buildings house the individual colleges and schools. The complexes were designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei.
Two-thirds of the student population choose to stay in the 16 Halls of Residence scattered around the Yunnan Gardens campus. The halls have rooms for one or two students each and are equipped with comforts such as washing machines, televisions, and Internet access. In 2005, there was a controversy when hostel rates were raised. The furore even reached the ears of a opposition political party leader, who suggested that students hold demonstrations to protest the increase. However, his suggestion was ignored by students and despite their complaints, the university administration continued with the rate increase, but by a lesser amount than initially announced.
The Buona Vista campus houses academic facilities as well as the alumni clubhouse.