14 January 2008

A decade of dedicated leadership and service at NUS

NUS President Prof Shih Choon Fong (left) with Royal Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah

NUS President Shih Choon Fong has been named Founding President of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He will leave NUS at the end of the year, having led the University and successfully driven its transformation over several years. 

Chairman of the NUS Board of Trustees, Mr Wong Ngit Liong said: "Under Choon Fong's visionary and able leadership, NUS has undergone a tremendous transformation into a major research-intensive university, widely respected for its dynamism and excellence. NUS has been very fortunate to benefit from a decade of his dedicated leadership and service, which has established very strong foundations for further growth and development."

Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's Minister for Finance and Minister for Education said: "Choon Fong has had an exemplary career as an academic and leader. He shaped the transformation of NUS and won it recognition amongst leading institutions internationally as a world-class university. We are proud that he has been appointed Founding President of KAUST.  I am sure that he will, with his usual effervescence, go about developing opportunities for collaboration in education between our two countries. "

Professor Shih was appointed as NUS Deputy Vice Chancellor in 1997 and became the President of NUS in 2000. His vision of a vibrant and dynamic university community characterised by a "no walls" culture which promotes and celebrates diversity and active collaboration, was accompanied by an unrelenting focus on excellence and on the development, retention and recruitment of top faculty members. He also recognised very early, the importance of internationalising the university and the value of introducing a strong enterprise dimension into NUS education and research. This compelling vision has been transformational for NUS, which is now ranked among the top 50 universities globally.

During Prof Shih's tenure, NUS research hit new peaks culminating in NUS winning the first ever Research Centre of Excellence award in Singapore for Quantum Information Technology in 2007. In parallel, his emphasis on the broadening and internationalization of NUS education has resulted in a fundamental and positive change in the nature and quality of the student experience in NUS. His boundless personal energy and enthusiasm in building a wider NUS community has led to an unprecedented strengthening of links with NUS alumni in Singapore and internationally, and NUS' participation and leadership in important global university networks particularly the International Alliance of Research Universities and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities.

Next President of NUS

	Prof Tan Chorh Chuan to succeed Prof Shih as NUS President

Prof Tan Chorh Chuan will succeed Prof Shih as the next President of NUS. Currently Senior Deputy President, he played a vital role in formulating the vision, strategic goals and plans for the University, and in overseeing their implementation. He led the successful corporatisation of NUS in 2006 and the development and implementation of new resource planning and allocation systems.

Prof Tan has been a key figure in leading the development of Singapore's Biomedical Sciences Initiative since 2000. In 2006, he was tasked to chair a Committee to review the progress made in the first 5 years of Singapore's Biomedical Sciences Initiative and to make recommendations for the second 5-year period. The report and recommendations of this committee were accepted by the Singapore Government which earmarked S$1.55 billion to build up translational and clinical research capabilities in Singapore. Prof Tan was recently appointed as the Chief Executive of the new National University Health System. He also serves as Deputy Chairman of Singapore's Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) and  Deputy Chairman of the Governing Board of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

Said Mr Wong: "Chorh Chuan is a central member of the senior leadership team at NUS and has worked very ably with Choon Fong to formulate the strategies and implement key initiatives that have helped bring NUS to where it is today. Chorh Chuan has extensive experience in administration, academia and the public sector. He is a man of exceptional dedication and ability to bring people together to work towards common goals. We are all very impressed with his vision, leadership and personal qualities, and very confident that he will take NUS to the next level of excellence, building on the strong foundations laid by Choon Fong."