University of Dundee announces new partnership with Singapore University

The University of Dundee and the National University of Singapore have established a new partnership which will see students share their study time between Scotland and Singapore and earn a degree from both institutions.

The University of Dundee. Picture by JANE BARLOW

The two universities are both globally prominent in the field of life sciences and say they offer “top-quality teaching and excellent student experience”.

The new jointly-offered Bachelor of Science degree programme comes in a package which allows students to experience life and study in both the UK and Asia.

The new four-year programme was formally launched in the company of the British High Commissioner in Singapore, His Excellency Scott Wightman.

The partnership builds on years of collaboration and student exchanges between the two universities.

Professor Sir Pete Downes, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee, said today/yesterday [MON]: “This is a prestigious partnership which is established on a shared commitment to research and innovation led teaching excellence both here in Dundee and in Singapore.

“Our goal is always to bring the best of the world to Dundee, and to take the best of Dundee to the world. Students from Dundee will have the opportunity to work with leading scientists in Singapore with expertise which compliments that in Dundee.”

National University of Singapore president Professor Tan Eng Chye said: “National University of Singapore has had a longstanding student exchange collaboration with the University of Dundee since 2011. This new joint degree programme is a natural and significant extension of our friendship with Dundee.

“This unique programme has been carefully designed to equip students with a strong foundation in life sciences, while providing them with opportunities to acquire industry-relevant knowledge and skills in drug design and discovery. The aim is to leverage the National University of Singapore’s and Dundee~s world-class expertise in life sciences to produce a pipeline of talent for the pharmaceutical sectors in Singapore, the UK and the world.”

The partnership will see 20 students moving between Scotland and Singapore each year. Half will start their degrees in Scotland and move to Singapore for most of the last two years of the four-year programme, with those beginning in Singapore spending the latter stages at Dundee.

This first-of-its-kind joint Honours programme enables National University of Singapore Life Sciences students to complete a full-year research project at Dundee in drug discovery and design. These students will also gain hands-on training in drug optimisation and design through Dundee~s partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the fight against diseases.

While they are at the National University of Singapore, the students coming from Dundee will cover genetic medicine, neurobiology or physiology and ageing.

The National University of Singapore is the Southeast Asia country’s flagship university, offering “a global approach to education and research with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise”. The University of Dundee earned the highest possible Gold Award in this year’s Teaching Excellence Framework and was the top rated university in the UK for biological sciences in the most recent Research Excellence Framework.

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