General
Yale-NUS College is Asia’s leading liberal arts and sciences college that seeks to integrate Asian and other global intellectual traditions, with the goal of educating young people for leadership in a complex, interconnected world.
A Yale-NUS education emphasises broad-based multidisciplinary learning in the full range of arts, humanities, and social and natural sciences. It encompasses a four-year, fully residential undergraduate experience in which students are immersed in a stimulating intellectual setting characterised by small classes and close interaction among students and faculty. A strong co-curricular programme complements the core liberal arts and sciences experience to develop critical inquiry and effective communication and leadership skills. It is designed to prepare students to flourish in virtually any field.
Yale-NUS College has its own Governing Board, which provides strategic direction for the College. The Board has oversight of the College’s development, management, administration and operations. It also establishes policies for the College. The Board comprises 14 members, seven from Singapore and seven nominated by Yale. It is chaired by Mdm Kay Kuok, Executive Chairman of Shangri-La Hotel Limited, Singapore.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) and Yale University established Yale-NUS College as an autonomous college within NUS. This allows the College the autonomy to innovate and adopt policies, curricula, systems and practices which may vary from NUS, while allowing it to tap on the facilities and resources of NUS for the benefit of its students and faculty.
Yale-NUS College is independent of Yale University, but the relationship between the two institutions is collaborative, supportive and mutually enriching. Yale faculty and administrative leaders have been active in helping to conceptualise the unique emphasis of the College on reframing the liberal arts and sciences for a more global context. They have also participated directly in the recruitment of faculty and senior administrators, and been openly enthusiastic about bringing some of Yale-NUS’ curricular and extracurricular innovations back to Yale.
In addition, many Yale faculty visit the College to teach courses and give guest lectures in disciplines that cut across the arts, humanities, and social and natural sciences. Yale-NUS students have opportunities to study at Yale University in New Haven and participate in a variety of creative collaborative degree programmes, such as five-year concurrent degree/special programmes with the Yale School of the Environment and the Yale School of Public Health. Consulting Yale faculty continue to be involved in the further development and refinement of the Yale-NUS curriculum. A separate Faculty Advisory Committee, composed of Yale professors, advises the President of Yale on the progress of Yale-NUS.
A liberal arts and sciences education (sometimes shortened to ‘liberal arts’) emphasises broad-based, multidisciplinary learning as well as depth of study. It builds a common foundation among all students in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and physical sciences, and mathematics, while developing expertise in a student’s chosen major.
Read more about the Yale-NUS curriculum here.
If you are looking for an undergraduate education that offers you breadth of knowledge and depth of understanding, encompasses a sense of community among students and faculty, builds leadership and communication skills, and promotes creativity and critical thinking, then a liberal arts and sciences education is for you.
You will grow personally and intellectually in a stimulating environment that will challenge your thinking and ignite new personal and professional passions. You will develop the habits of mind necessary to identify and solve complex problems, thrive in diverse environments, and use your experiences and perspectives to lead in your professional and personal life.
In short, if you seek an education that will prepare you to meet the global challenges of the 21st century, then a liberal arts and sciences education is for you.
A Yale-NUS College education emphasises broad-based multidisciplinary learning in the full range of arts, humanities and social and natural sciences. Our curriculum and pedagogy, built from scratch by our inaugural faculty, draws on the strengths of established liberal arts and sciences traditions, while introducing our students to the diverse intellectual traditions and cultures of Asia and the world.
The College has a full faculty team of about 120 faculty members who were recruited internationally. Besides the United States and Singapore, they hail from Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Malaysia, Canada, India, Kenya, Hong Kong, Poland, Russia, Spain and Taiwan. Each of these faculty members is highly qualified in his or her area of expertise, and brings with them years of experience in undergraduate teaching.
Instead of traditional academic departments, faculty members teach in three interdisciplinary divisions, namely Science, Social Sciences, and Humanities. Complementing the permanent faculty, top Yale and NUS professors will serve as visiting professors. The student-to-faculty ratio is approximately 8:1.
There are more than 900 students in Yale-NUS College in 2019, who are from over 60 countries across six continents. Each intake comprises approximately 250 students per year. The total expected student population at full capacity will be 1,000 students.
Every student will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree or a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree from Yale-NUS College, awarded by the National University of Singapore.
Latin Honours is one way in which the College recognises outstanding academic achievement. The College awards Latin Honours (summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude) to the top 35 percent of each graduating class as recognition of exceptional academic achievement.
Yale-NUS students’ final transcript will also indicate the commensurate National University of Singapore (NUS) honours classification, which may be used for benchmarking of Yale-NUS students for employment, scholarship, graduate school or related purposes.
At the graduation ceremony, the College recognises outstanding achievements by students through prizes for the outstanding capstone project in each major and by giving out awards to recognise leadership and overall contribution by a student to the College. And throughout the year, awards are presented to students for achievement in the arts, student leadership, sports and community service at other events..
More information on the College’s honours, prizes and awards can be found here
Students in the double degree programme (DDP) in Law and Liberal Arts will be considered for Latin Honours along with the other Yale-NUS students in their intake cohort.
The Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree completed by DDP Law students will be considered as a ‘major’ for the purpose of the Latin Honours system, and follows the same cut-offs.
