SINGAPORE STUDIES

Mr Shriniwas Rai asked the Minister for Education if he will consider introducing "Singapore Studies" as a subject in the Universities.

RAdm Teo Chee Hean: Various aspects of Singapore studies are already incorporated as elective or compulsory modules in the academic curriculum of our universities. In addition, Singapore history will be offered as a module in NUS's Core Curriculum, which is due to be implemented in July this year.

Compulsory modules

At NUS and NTU, individual Faculties and Schools require their respective students to take compulsory modules which cover a range of topics on Singapore studies. For example, the recent history of Singapore is an area of study covered in the "Foundation Skills Course", a Faculty Enrichment Module taken by all first year students in the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. In NTU, the Schools of Engineering and Applied Science require their students to take a module on "Engineers in Society" that covers issues pertaining to the history, politics, social structure and challenges of modern Singapore.

Elective modules

Issues related to Singapore are covered in a wide range of elective modules that span diverse subject areas such as Sociology, Geography and History. At NUS and NTU, some of these elective modules are also offered to students of other Faculties and Schools within the respective universities. Core Curriculum

The Core Curriculum is a new initiative by NUS which will be implemented in the academic year 1999 for about 5% of its undergraduate intakes (The Core Curriculum is an Honours track programme that is scheduled to be implemented in the Faculty of Science, the School of Computing, and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, as well as for undergraduates in the Talent Development Programme from other faculties.). One of the five areas of study in the Core Curriculum is "History - Singapore and the Asia Pacific'. A core module to be studied in this History component is "Singapore: The Making of a Nation".

Conclusion

The current approach of covering various aspects of Singapore studies through a wide range of modules in our universities achieves much wider coverage than would a distinct subject in "Singapore Studies". There are no immediate plans to introduce such a subject in NUS and NTU. However, we can certainly weigh the merits of this to see whether it would be good to offer this in future.