| UNIVERSITIES IN THE 21st CENTURY: THE WAY FORWARD |
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by Lee Puay York |
The pursuit of excellence calls for a “no-walls” organisational culture. This was the key message in NUS President Professor Shih Choon Fong’s public lecture at the University of Malaya (UM) on 22 November 2005. Professor Shih spoke on The Changing Educational Landscape in a Globalising World: Re-making the University at the invitation of the UM Vice Chancellor, Dato’ Professor Dr Hashim Yaacob.
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| UNIVERSITIES WITH NO WALLS: UM Vice-Chancellor, Dato' Professor Dr Hashim Yaacob (left) with NUS President Professor Shih Choon Fong. |
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Speaking to an audience of 500 comprising the board of directors, presidents and academics of Malaysian universities, Professor Shih reflected on the shared roots and strong bonds between UM and NUS. As both universities celebrated the first centennial of their founding as a medical school in Singapore in 1905, he suggested it was timely to look ahead to challenges and opportunities on the horizon. “In an increasingly knowledge and innovation driven global economy, universities that see education as their only mission risk obsolescence. Universities must go beyond imparting knowledge. They must see themselves as part of the larger global enterprise of creating, imparting and applying knowledge,” he said.
Stressing the importance of people, Professor Shih said that a knowledge community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, could achieve collective excellence by leveraging on individuals’ distinctive and complementary strengths working as a team. Professor Shih also highlighted the importance of building an open environment without walls to enable people to flourish.
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