The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is studying the possibility of starting a new school in environmental sciences within the next three years.
Its president, Professor Bertil Andersson, told reporters last week that internally, discussions are at an “advanced” stage.
He hopes the new school can take in 100 undergraduates annually.
However, the university has not discussed the matter with the Ministry of Education, which will have to give the approval for the new school, said Prof Andersson.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a trip to Sri Lanka to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Peradeniya in environmental science and engineering.
Prof Andersson said there is a need to educate people on environmental problems, including the causes. “In environmental engineering, it is actually solving the problems, but for environmental sciences, it’s more to (go) upstream to look at the cause of the problems,” he said.
On the proposal to start a new school, Prof Andersson said: “The whole world is starting to address more and more of environmental issues, and Singaporeans cannot be the only one in the world that does not have any indication into tomorrow’s challenges. I mean, tomorrow’s challenges are not only banking and such.”
Singapore, he pointed out, is not immune to issues such as ash clouds as a result of volcanoes in Indonesia.
There is also a petrochemical industry here, he said.
He also noted that NTU currently has two research centres of excellence in earth sciences and bio-fields.
Prof Andersson said he hoped that the world’s “best scientists” from these centres will take charge of the new “inter-disciplinary” school.
Professor Ng Wun Jern, executive director of the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, added: “The sciences confer a level of understanding that is very useful when we move to translation and developing solutions.
“At most academic institutions, it is either one or the other, but at NTU, we now have a chance to develop both … then it makes for a very powerful combination.”
In January this year, it was announced that the Yale-NUS College will offer a Master of Environment Sciences.
However, currently, there are no undergraduate programmes in this field.
On the MOU, Prof Andersson said it will pave the way for greater research collaboration on environment science and engineering projects between the two universities - for instance, wastewater treatment, water quality management and sanitation.
