Sixteen of the University’s academic programmes have been placed in the top 10 worldwide, according to the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject.

These programmes include those from Arts and Social Sciences, Computer Science, Design and Engineering, and Science – demonstrating the University’s strengths across its different colleges, faculties and schools.

“We are delighted that NUS continues to be among Asia’s best universities. We are in the top 10 in 16 subject areas in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022. NUS is also in the top 10 in two (of five) broad categories - Engineering & Technology and Social Sciences & Management - in the same rankings,” said NUS Senior Deputy President and Provost Professor Ho Teck Hua.

“This is high international recognition of our world-leading faculty, talented students, staff and alumni, and will serve as strong encouragement for all of us at NUS."

NUS takes pole position as Asia’s best university, sharing the top spot with the University of Tokyo. Both universities have 37 programmes ranked in the top 50.

The QS rankings provide independent comparative analysis of the performance of 15,200 individual university programmes at 1,543 universities across the world. The programmes are across 51 academic disciplines and five broad faculty areas.

“The consistent improvements made by Singaporean institutions in our rankings result from a decade of investment and strategizing,” said Mr Ben Sowter, Research Director at QS.

He noted that NUS has the largest endowment of any university in Asia today. “Advantaged by this long-term preparation for their financial futures and by a relentlessly international outlook, Singaporean higher education is going from strength to strength,” added Mr Sowter.

Education to prepare students for a post-pandemic world
Graduates are expected to be agile and adaptable in the post-pandemic world order. In training students to connect the dots across diverse disciplines, NUS has embarked on educational innovations centred on interdisciplinarity and experiential learning.

The establishment of the College of Humanities and Sciences and the College of Design and Engineering has allowed NUS to deliver future-focused interdisciplinary education at scale, while offering students flexibility to pursue multiple pathways and specialisations. The result: an education that offers both breadth and depth.

This will be reinforced with the inaugural intake at NUS College – Singapore’s first undergraduate honours college – in the new academic year. The college will welcome a diverse community of students from across 50 majors including Humanities and Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Business, Computer Science and Law. These undergraduates will come together to pursue experiential and interdisciplinary learning in an immersive residential environment.

This article first appeared in NUSNews on 6 April 2022.