NUS ex-President did not go to NUS but to Singapore Poly

[manokie]

Professor Shih Choon Fong (施春风; born 1945) is President of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology(KAUST) and a world renowned fracture mechanics expert. Before joining KAUST as Founding President in December 2008, he was president of the National University of Singapore (NUS) for 9 years and has been widely acknowledged[1] for creating the University’s research-intensive focus as well as for NUS’ elevated global reputation. Drawing from his experiences abroad, Shih institutionalized a performance- and market-based evaluation system for academics. Those who admire his light-complexioned good looks and silvery mane of hair, have dubbed him "The Anderson Cooper of the Orient" [2] Shih also added more flexibility and responsiveness[dubious – discuss] to the rigid British-based Singapore higher education system by implementing new teaching and grading methodologies from the American system . Shih’s efforts have gained NUS growing international recognition[citation needed] and achievements, such as the Times Higher Education Supplement.
Shih was announced as the Founding President of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) on 13 January 2008. Shih fully assumed this new role on 1 December 2008.
[edit]Honors

Shih is among the highly cited researchers in the world for the category of engineering complied by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI).
In 2004, Shih became the first Singaporean to be elected as a Foreign Associate to the United States National Academy of Engineering.[3]
He was awarded the French decoration "Chevalier" in the Order of the "Legion d'Honneur" in 2005.
In recognition of his works in the special research achievements, Shih was elected as a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.
In 2007, Shih received the inaugural Chief Executive Leadership Award for Asia Pacific presented by the Council for Advancement and Support for Education.
　　1945 Born in Singapore
　　1957 Singapore Monk's Hill Primary School
　　1961 Singapore Beatty Secondary School
　　1966 Singapore Polytechnic, Dipl Eng
　　1970 Harvard University, Division of Applied Science, M S
　　1973 Harvard University, Division of Applied Science, Ph D
　　1969-1971 American Science and Engineering, Mathematical Analyst
　　1973-1974 Harvard University, Researcher
　　1974-1981 General Electric, R & D, Head of Fracture Group
　　1981-1983 Brown University, Visiting Associate Professor
　　1983-1986 Brown University, Associate Professor
　　1986-1997 Brown University, Professor
　　1996-1999 National University of Singapore, Director of the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering
　　1997-2000 National University of Singapore, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
　　2000 - Dec 2008 National University of Singapore, Vice Chancellor and President
　　Dec 2008 - today King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Founding President[4]
[edit]References







Funny right?

 

[kingrant]

What's funny? That he ddint go to NUS?

Those days there were no University degrees in Engineering from University of Singapore, the forerunner of NUS. Those days, you could only graduate locally with a Professional Diploma in Engineering from the Singapore Poly. The first degrees from the UofS were awarded in 1972 or so.

 

[manokie]

What's funny? That he ddint go to NUS?

Those days there were no University degrees in Engineering from University of Singapore, the forerunner of NUS. Those days, you could only graduate locally with a Professional Diploma in Engineering from the Singapore Poly. Degrees were started only in 1967, definitely after he has left. The first degrees from the UofS were awarded in 1972 or so.

You need a brain check

He wanted to do a degree in Science and did graduate studies in applied science @ Harvard.

Not all engineers in that era had an engineering degree and in fact most of them have a science degree

 

[kingrant]

Ok let's put it this way. Agree he coudl still do a Science degree in U of S but definitely not an Eng degree.
It's yr thread title which confuses, because he had to go to the Poly for his Eng degree. A Science degree is not an Eng degree.

You need a brain check

He wanted to do a degree in Science and did graduate studies in applied science @ Harvard.

Not all engineers in that era had an engineering degree and in fact most of them have a science degree

 

[kingrant]

If you had titled yr thread as
" NUS ex-P did not go to NUS for his Science degree but to Singapore Poly for his Engineering Diploma " then you are absolutely correct.

Actually, those days the Dips are Professional Dips and not Technician Dips. Only the SP didnt have the status to award degrees, altho the Prof Dips are as good as UK's degrees.

But then, I dont see anything incompatible with that.

PS. It was also determined later by an Academic Review that the last 2 years of the Poly dip course were equal to the first year of an MSc course in UK.

You need a brain check

He wanted to do a degree in Science and did graduate studies in applied science @ Harvard.

Not all engineers in that era had an engineering degree and in fact most of them have a science degree

 

[scroobal]

The course that he took was only available in Poly. The Uni only had pure sciences. If you wanted to do your master's in engineering you had to do the Poly course to quick entry to enginerring. Up till late 1970s, you had to do a British correspondence course, if you wanted to do IT. The top echelon of CIOs all had correspondence course degrees.

You need a brain check

He wanted to do a degree in Science and did graduate studies in applied science @ Harvard.

Not all engineers in that era had an engineering degree and in fact most of them have a science degree

 

[borom]

Anyway what's the big deal about NUS?

The top scholars themselves usually choose to go overseas instead of NUS.

Do you see the top brains in America opting not to go to Harvard or the top
performers in UK preferring not to go to Oxbridge?

How many percentage of our Ministers children go to NUS?