GEIS-新闻详情

Over 9,500 sign petition calling on NUS to reverse merger decision on Yale-NUS, several faculties

2021-08-31 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - More than 9,500 people have signed an online petition calling on the National University of Singapore (NUS) to reverse its decision to merge Yale-NUS College with its University Scholars Programme (USP).

It also calls for the reversal of two other mergers - between the Faculty of Engineering and the School of Design and Environment to form the College of Design and Engineering; and the one between the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Science to form the College of Humanities and Sciences.

Separately, The Straits Times understands that students and alumni from Yale-NUS will be meeting the school administration for a dialogue on the reasons for the merger on Tuesday evening (Aug 31).

The petition is hosted on petition platform website change.org and titled #NoMoreTopDown. It carries a statement from a group of NUS students from various faculties whose identities are not disclosed. ST has contacted the organisers for comment.

It states that the decisions from NUS to merge these faculties was lacking in transparency and consultation with both faculty and students, that it will negatively impact the quality of education at NUS and shows a failure to care for the welfare of staff and students.

The decision to merge Yale-NUS and USP was announced last Friday. The college will stop taking in new students and the final batch will graduate in 2025.

This ends an 11-year tie-up between NUS and the elite Ivy League university Yale in the United States to provide a liberal arts education in Singapore - a first for the Republic.

The announcement was met with dismay and anxiety from students who cited concerns over their personal futures as well as the loss of an inclusive, progressive community, ST reported.

The decision to merge the Faculty of Engineering and the School of Design and Environment was also announced last Friday, while the one to merge the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with the Faculty of Science was announced last year.

Engineering and design students will "seamlessly transit" into the new college in January 2022, NUS has said, while the first batch of students enrolled into the new College of the Humanities and Sciences this year.

The three mergers collectively affect about 18,000 students - or about half of NUS' total student body, according to statistics from its website.

The petition contends that despite the stakes that students and NUS staff have in the merger decisions, they were left out of the process and informed only of the outcome.

It also states that NUS regulations, which stipulate having staff advisers in student groups and make possible disciplinary action against those who are critical of the university, hinder student participation in the decision-making process.

The writers demand that NUS reverse all three mergers and allow representative review committees with significant student representation from the affected faculties to be formed democratically before they move forward on the issue again.

ST has contacted NUS for comment.