NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE BILL

Order for Second Reading read. 3.55 p.m.

The Minister for Trade and Industry (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Members will be aware that in July last year the Council on Professional and Technical Education recommended that enrolment in engineering courses at the tertiary level in Singapore should be increased substantially in order to meet the manpower demands of our restructured economy. In particular, the Council recommended that a new institution, to be called the Nanyang Technological Institute, should be established at the former Nanyang University campus in Jurong in order to train practice-oriented engineers who would, on graduation, work in industry, manage our production lines, undertake plant and site supervision and oversee maintenance work. The training of these engineers would emphasize engineering applications and practice.

The Bill before the House seeks to formally establish the Nanyang Technological Institute by legislation. The Bill is patterned along the lines of the National University of Singapore Act, but appropriate modifications have been made where necessary. I shall deal briefly with the significant provisions of the Bill.

Clause 3 of the Bill formally establishes and incorporates the Nanyang Technological Institute. The functions and powers of the Institute are specified in clause 5. The Institute's functions include the provision of facilities to carry out higher instruction and research in various branches of engineering and technology, as well as in such other disciplines as the Institute's Council may determine from time to time. The Institute is also empowered to enter into and carry out such arrangements as the Institute's Council may think fit with the National University of Singapore for the coordination of the work of the Institute with the work of the National University of Singapore, and for the conduct of courses and examinations and for such other purposes as the Institute may, tom time to time, determine.

Clause 6 provides that the Institute shall be governed by the provisions of the Institute's Constitution as set out in the Schedule to the Act. As in the case of the Constitution of the National University of Singapore, the Minister is empowered, on the advice of the Institute's Council, to amend the Institute's Constitution by Order published in the Gazette. This flexibility is necessary as occasions may well arise in future when the Institute's Constitution has to be amended.

Clauses 8, 9 and 10 which relate to the accounts and the audit of accounts of the Institute are standard provisions. Clause 12 deals with the grant and acquisition of land for the purposes of the Institute, and clause 13 concerns the application of the Societies Act to the student bodies of the Institute. These two clauses are based on the existing provisions of the National University of Singapore Act. Clause 14 empowers the Minister to make rules for the removal of any difficulty which may arise in giving effect to the provisions of this Act and for the initial appointments of the President of the Institute, the Deans of Schools of the Institute and the appointments to the first Council.

The Constitution of the Institute follows closely that of the Constitution of the National University of Singapore but with appropriate modifications. The chief executive of the Institute will be its President. Instead of faculties, the Institute will have Schools.

The Institute's governing body will be the Council which will consist of 15 members. Five members (inclusive of the President) will be appointed from among the Institute's academic staff. Of these five members, at least two must be Deans of Schools or Heads of Institutions and at least one must be a full-time teacher who is neither Head nor Dean. Five members will be appointed by the Government, of whom one shall be on the nomination of the Professional Engineers Board and one shall be on the nomination of the Council of the Institute of Engineers, Singapore. The NUS will be represented by five members comprising its Vice-Chancellor, Dean of Engineering and three members to be appointed by the Vice-Chancellor.

In place of the Senate there will be an Academic Board which will be chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of the NUS. The President of the Institute will be the Deputy Chairman of the Academic Board which will include in its membership the Dean and Vice-Dean of Engineering of the NUS and the Deans and Professors of the Institute.

As with the NUS, no provision has been made for a Guild of Graduates. Since graduates of the Institute will receive NUS degrees, they will officially be members of the NUS Graduates Register. This will, however, not preclude the Institute from having its own Sub-Register.

A Students Union will be established along the lines of the National University of Singapore Students Union.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, although the Institute has yet to be formally established, an NTI Planning and Development Committee, under the Chairmanship of Dr Cham Tao Soon, Dean of Engineering of the NUS, has been hard at work since August last year to prepare the groundwork for the setting up of the Institute. I should like to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for their energetic and unstinting efforts which will give the Institute a flying start.

An overall plan for the development of the Institute has been approved by Government and provision has been made for the Institute to begin with three Schools:

1. Civil and Structural Engineering.

2. Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

3. Mechanical and Production Engineering.

A vigorous campaign to recruit staff has been launched and the Institute is targetting to employ at least 30 academic staff by the end of this year. As of to-day, over 400 applications have been received in response to the Institute's recruitment efforts. Twenty-four appointees, 12 local and 12 expatriates, have accepted the Institute's offers of employment and a further nine offers have been made. Dean-designates for the three Schools have been appointed and the key administrative and library staff have already started work.

INDECO has been appointed as the project manager for the physical development of the NTI campus and an eminent architect, Professor Kenzo Tange, has been retained to draw up the Master Plan for a new complex of lecture theatres, laboratories, offices and ancillary facilities capable of accommodating up to 3,000 students by 1990. Phase I of the plan, which is to convert the existing buildings to provide temporary facilities for students and staff, has already begun and will be completed by February next year in time to receive the first batch of NTI students to be admitted in July 1982.

The Institute will encourage close interaction with industry in a number of ways. Firstly, the teaching staff will make it their responsibility to keep abreast with technological development in Singapore through the provision of consultancy services to the public and private sectors.

Secondly, the Institute will have a system of industrial attachment for students so that it will be kept informed of the problems and requirements of industry. Thirdly, the Schools of the Institute will have Advisory Committees comprising industrialists, Government officials and academic staff. These committees will be effective channels of communication and will provide a good sounding board for the introduction of new courses by the Schools in keeping with changes in the needs of our local industry.

The Institute will produce its first graduates by the mid-1980s. Government intends to give the Institute its fullest support so that by the late 1980's the Institute will have developed sufficiently to provide a full range of both general and honours degree courses in the various streams of engineering. This will pave the way for the Institute to be developed by 1992 into a full-fledged technological university to be called the Technological University of Nanyang. To meet this objective Government will ensure that the Institute will, from the start, have facilities and terms and conditions of service for staff which are appropriate to a University-level institution. When it is fully developed, the Technological University of Nanyang will play a crucial role in training the highly-skilled manpower needed for the sophisticated, capital-intensive, high-value added industries that will figure prominently in our economy in the 1990s.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move.

Question proposed.

Mr Chai Chong Yii (Bukit Batok): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I seek a clarification from the Hon. Minister? I take it that the old campus of Nanyang University will eventually become the property of the Technological University of Nanyang. Although it is not mentioned in the Bill where this Institute is going to be situated, the Minister did mention that it would be at the old University campus. However, the ownership of the land is not mentioned in the Bill. May I seek confirmation from the Minister that the land comprising over 500 acres at the Jurong Campus will be given to this Institute?

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am pleased to confirm that the land on which the Nanyang University Campus stands will be vested in the NTI first and subsequently in the Technological University of Nanyang.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.