Leader of world's top young university honored by President of Singapore
The President of Singapore, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, has awarded Singapore's highest honour for scientists to the President of Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore), Professor Bertil Andersson, for his contributions to scientific research and development in the country, and for his contributions in transforming NTU Singapore into a world-class institution in the last decade.
Professor Andersson, a Swedish citizen, received the President's Science and Technology Medal at a ceremony this evening (18 October) at the Istana, the official residence of the Singapore President.
Professor Andersson has worked in Singapore since 2007, when he joined NTU Singapore as its Provost. Since then he has launched pioneering schemes to attract the best young researchers to Singapore and to the university and played a leading role in creating Singapore's newest medical school jointly with Imperial College London.
He and his team also attracted top industrial collaborators to the country to set up research and education partnerships, including a S$75 million (US$55 million) corporate lab with Rolls Royce, anchoring the company in Singapore. He was appointed NTU Singapore's President in 2011.
Just 25 years old, NTU Singapore is ranked as the world's top young university and placed 13th overall for the second year running in the 2016 QS World University Rankings.
Professor Andersson said: "It is a great honour and privilege to receive this prestigious award. It is particularly meaningful to me, an 'adopted' Singaporean who was welcomed here and entrusted with so many important projects for the country. I have always felt appreciated in Singapore and have never been made to feel like an outsider or alien in this cosmopolitan city.
"This award is a recognition that I share with the NTU Board of Trustees and the NTU team for their solid support, working hard together with me to transform the university into a world-class institution, recognised for its excellence in education and research. The work is not done yet, as there are new peaks to conquer and new challenges to face. But we are on the right track and I believe NTU will continue to play a major role in the spectacular Singapore success story."
Inaugurated in 1991, NTU Singapore marks its silver jubilee in 2016. Professor Andersson who has worked in different countries promoted a global mind-set at the university which has a goal of having at least 80% of its undergraduates go overseas at least once during their studies. He also set up the Nanyang Assistant Professorship scheme to attract a new generation of outstanding young investigators from around the world to NTU.
He has championed the large-scale adoption of the 'flipped classroom' learning model across the university, with S$75 million (US$55 million) invested into redesigning at least half of its current 3000 modules for flipped classroom learning. Under his leadership an iconic learning hub known as The Hive was opened last year.
NTU Singapore's faculty are drawn from over 80 countries and it has a strong network of international industry partners in research, ranging from Rolls Royce, BMW, BAE Systems, Robert Bosch GmbH, Leonardo-Finmeccanica in Europe, General Electric and Lockheed Martin in the US, and Delta Electronics, Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Toray in Asia.
In April 2016, NTU was named Singapore's top institution in research for the second consecutive year in the Nature Index global rankings. NTU Singapore was also ranked 32nd among the world's universities and 37th among global research institutions. NTU Singapore takes the lead in normalised citation impact among Asia's top universities.
According to QS, NTU Singapore is one of only six institutions in the world in the top 100 across all six QS World University Rankings indicators, together with MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL and Imperial College.
Provided by Nanyang Technological University
