NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (Closure of Department of Building)

Dr Teo Ho Pin asked the Minister for Education whether his Ministry has any plan to close the Department of Building at the National University of Singapore as the Building and Construction Authority will not be recognising the Bachelor of Science (Building) degree in the proposed contractor registration system in 2003.

RAdm Teo Chee Hean: The Building and Construction Authority (BCA)'s new Contractor Registration System requires various categories of sizable building and civil engineering contractors to employ specified numbers of professional and technical staff, of which one-third should have qualifications recognised by the Professional Engineers Board or the Board of Architects. The other two-thirds of the professional and technical staff can hold other industry-relevant qualifications not accredited by the 2 Boards. These would include the Bachelor of Science (Building) degree from NUS.

The closure of NUS's Department of Building therefore does not arise. NUS's Building graduates have played a useful role in the industry as quantity surveyors, project managers and building performance specialists, and will continue to do so.