The National University of Singapore (NUS) said on Monday that it is all set to open 140 courses to its alumni over the next three years. This latest news comes as a part of its efforts to promote lifelong learning.
NUS said the modules will be available at no cost to the college's 278,000 alumni in the first-year pilot of the initiative from August 2017 to July 2018. In the subsequent two years, course fees that range from about S$3,000 to S$3,500 per module will continue to be waived. However, a student services fee of S$261.85 will be charged for each semester.
The modules include:
Prescribed Text in Literature (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Massive Data Processing Techniques in Data Science (School of Computing)
TechLaunch – Experiential Entrepreneurship (Faculty of Engineering)
Social Entrepreneurship (Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy)
Nutritional Biochemistry (Faculty of Science)
Reports said eight schools and faculties will offer these modules. Those are: The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS Business School, School of Computing, School of Design and Environment, Faculty of Engineering, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Faculty of Science and the School for Continuing and Lifelong Education.
Those alumni, who will get themselves enrolled in these modules will study alongside current NUS students during regular term time. It generally runs from August to December and January to May.
The university stated that priority in signing up for these modules will still be given to current NUS students, with no more than 10 per cent of each class comprising alumni on a first come, first served basis.
It added that the courses will have about 770 seats for NUS alumni having the majority at the postgraduate levels. However, the selection will also include undergraduate modules. NUS said that it may expand the course offerings after the pilot phase.
NUS alumni can opt for up to two modules over the next three years, from Aug 1 this year to Jul 30, 2020. The school said that this is limited to one module per semester to open up learning opportunities for more NUS alumni.
"With the rapidly changing world, our graduates have to learn and adapt as they develop their careers, and in tandem with that, our mental construct of a university education has to change," NUS Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost Tan Eng Chye told Channel NewsAsia. "Our initiative is an encouragement for our alumni, new and old, to start adopting this lifelong learning mindset."
The complete list of relevant courses is available on the official website of NUS. The applications will start on Monday and close on May 31.
