Reinventing NUS for Better or for Worse
Text: Yip Wai Yan
There always seems to be some part of the National University of Singapore campus being refurnished, remodeled or completely demolished.
Residents staying at University Town constantly complain about the drilling noise coming from the construction of the Yale-NUS campus, the old administrative block next to the Central Library is being torn down, and next year NUS will boast Singapore’s first natural history museum.
Earlier in October 2013, NUS President Tan Chorh Chan revealed in his annual State of the University Address that the university is embarking on a number of other infrastructural projects aimed at creating a more vibrant and social learning environment for the NUS community.
By 2016, students can expect to see a revamped Central Forum, a new spacious outdoors studying area at the Faculty of Science, and a 9,000 square-metre sports facility featuring a gym, sports halls, eateries, and a covered Olympic-sized swimming pool.
The university is indeed forward-looking in its expansion plans.
However, in its ambitious stride to have the most beautiful and modern facilities, NUS has neglected fixing the real problematic areas on campus.
Take the September 2013 floods at the Faculty of Science and the Kent Ridge train station exit, for example. Or the fact that there is always at least one computer at the Central Library facing a system breakdown.
Where is the purported vibrant and social learning environment in these places?
Students should reasonably expect to have access to dry lecture theatres, flood-free walkways and functioning desktops in a top-ranking university.
There always seems to be some part of the National University of Singapore campus being refurnished, remodeled or completely demolished.
Residents staying at University Town constantly complain about the drilling noise coming from the construction of the Yale-NUS campus, the old administrative block next to the Central Library is being torn down, and next year NUS will boast Singapore’s first natural history museum.
Earlier in October 2013, NUS President Tan Chorh Chan revealed in his annual State of the University Address that the university is embarking on a number of other infrastructural projects aimed at creating a more vibrant and social learning environment for the NUS community.
By 2016, students can expect to see a revamped Central Forum, a new spacious outdoors studying area at the Faculty of Science, and a 9,000 square-metre sports facility featuring a gym, sports halls, eateries, and a covered Olympic-sized swimming pool.
The university is indeed forward-looking in its expansion plans.
However, in its ambitious stride to have the most beautiful and modern facilities, NUS has neglected fixing the real problematic areas on campus.
Take the September 2013 floods at the Faculty of Science and the Kent Ridge train station exit, for example. Or the fact that there is always at least one computer at the Central Library facing a system breakdown.
Where is the purported vibrant and social learning environment in these places?
Students should reasonably expect to have access to dry lecture theatres, flood-free walkways and functioning desktops in a top-ranking university.
It is in fact somewhat embarrassing that such a well-funded tertiary institution still faces basic issues with drainage and functioning of computer facilities.
Compounding this problem is the fact that such faulty areas are not restricted to old campus spaces.
The rooms and hallways in the residential colleges at University Town flooded from heavy rains in the first semester that the colleges opened, while the shower facilities in these dormitories have also faced ongoing piping and water supply issues. Episodes like these make NUS appear negligent towards the safety of its students, which should be the university’s greatest responsibility and priority.
On a similar note, several treadmills in the Stephen Riady Centre gym broke down in September 2013 despite having only begun operations in March that year.
Incidentally, this makes one wonder about the durability of the equipment in the proposed 2016 sports facility.
There seems to be a pattern of rapid infrastructural developments followed by a just-as-rapid revelation of faults in these structures.
By rushing out developments, NUS could become the next Jem mall, a shopping plaza in Jurong East where two fires broke out and part of its first-floor ceiling collapsed only months after it opened.
The Office of Vice President (Campus Infrastructure) should focus on ensuring that the basic framework of the campus is sound before embarking on its next grand project.
The take-home message from this is that while NUS may be moving in the right direction by introducing new and improved spaces, the devil is in the details of implementation. It is imperative that the university avoids repeating the same infrastructural issues plaguing existing campus spaces for students to truly experience a vibrant and social learning environment.
Tags: commentary/editorial
Compounding this problem is the fact that such faulty areas are not restricted to old campus spaces.
The rooms and hallways in the residential colleges at University Town flooded from heavy rains in the first semester that the colleges opened, while the shower facilities in these dormitories have also faced ongoing piping and water supply issues. Episodes like these make NUS appear negligent towards the safety of its students, which should be the university’s greatest responsibility and priority.
On a similar note, several treadmills in the Stephen Riady Centre gym broke down in September 2013 despite having only begun operations in March that year.
Incidentally, this makes one wonder about the durability of the equipment in the proposed 2016 sports facility.
There seems to be a pattern of rapid infrastructural developments followed by a just-as-rapid revelation of faults in these structures.
By rushing out developments, NUS could become the next Jem mall, a shopping plaza in Jurong East where two fires broke out and part of its first-floor ceiling collapsed only months after it opened.
The Office of Vice President (Campus Infrastructure) should focus on ensuring that the basic framework of the campus is sound before embarking on its next grand project.
The take-home message from this is that while NUS may be moving in the right direction by introducing new and improved spaces, the devil is in the details of implementation. It is imperative that the university avoids repeating the same infrastructural issues plaguing existing campus spaces for students to truly experience a vibrant and social learning environment.
Tags: commentary/editorial