7 August 2007

Freshmen: Prepare for a world of unknown unknowns

UNIVERSITY PLEDGE: Student leaders led the freshmen to recite the University Pledge, affirming their loyalty to NUS and pledging to uphold academic values and the name of NUS.

SEIZE the opportunities at NUS to prepare yourself for a world with unknown challenges, where you don’t even know what you don’t know.

This was NUS President Prof Shih Choon Fong’s message for freshmen in his welcome address at the Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony (FIC) held at the University Cultural Centre (6 Aug). A total of 6530 freshmen joined the NUS fraternity in the new academic year 2007/08. A formal ceremony which included a processional entry by senior University Administrators in academic gowns, the FIC introduced freshmen to members of the University Administration and student leaders, and highlighted several aspects of university education that would contribute to an enriching experience at NUS.

Prof Shih spoke of the pursuit of 5Ls at NUS -- lectures, labs, library, lunch and loo – and how it may help one master knowledge that is already known, but not the “unknown unknowns”.

“You have to go beyond lectures, labs and library, beyond chasing grades, to prepare for the open-book exam of life,” said Prof Shih. “At NUS, you should be doing more than just learning the knowns of your course of study. You’re here also to learn how to think, to cultivate habits of life-long learning -- to learn, unlearn and re-learn.”

MUSICAL WELCOME: Freshmen were wowed by NUS performing talent at the FIC.

He urged freshmen to make the most of their experience in NUS, from the classroom to the halls, to co-curricular activities and even overseas ventures. “You don’t know yourself until you put yourself through different experiences and test your limits. You don’t know yourself until you stretch yourself,” he said.

To inspire the new cohort of students, Prof Shih gave examples of outstanding alumni who seized the opportunities at NUS and discovered their calling -- Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Ex-President of NUS Students’ Union (NUSSU) and now Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts; Ms Olivia Lum, founder of Hyflux, a global water treatment technologies company now listed on the Singapore Exchange with a value of S$1.5 billion; and Peh Ruey Feng, engineering graduate who registered a unprecedented 11 US patents as a student, and now Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur.

Tay E Teng, President, NUSSU, urged freshmen to lead a fulfilling and enriching undergraduate life. “You, as freshmen, have the chance to make sure you live your undergraduate life to the fullest, to explore new experiences and to achieve all that you have set out to achieve. Do not allow yourselves that feeling of what could have been on your day of graduation,” she said.