Message from Dean of Students

What Is A Classroom?

A very warm welcome to NUS, the largest classroom you can find in Singapore. You may be wondering, what makes a classroom? Is it a lecture theatre where an instructor communicates his finest ideas? Is it a tutorial room, where students tackle problems and engage in spirited debates? Or is it a laboratory where concepts come alive and where knowledge transforms into applications? Or in the post-pandemic world, is it the cyberspace where humans interact without borders and where information flows across dimensions?

Indeed, a classroom includes all of these, and in fact, much more than that. I believe that a classroom is simply any given space where learning is taking place proactively and passionately. And in NUS, we redefine this learning by including student life activities as an integral and necessary component of a future-focused education.

Why is this so? This is because acquiring knowledge can no longer be the default goal of education as knowledge becomes freely accessible by anyone, and most of what you learn becomes obsolete rapidly. Rather, the competitive edge that university provides, is to help you make new connections across knowledge, solve problems across cultural differences, and across disciplines, pivot through disruptive changes, and the courage to pick yourself up should you fail at first attempt. For these reasons, the classroom must include the space where this context of learning can exist, and this is where student life can make its mark.

In student life, the classroom can be a playing field, where you learn the value of teamwork, strength and resilience. It can also be on the performance stage where you appreciate the power of precision, creativity and beauty. The classroom includes the larger society, where you find your identity and purpose through helping others, one person at a time. The classroom is also residential life, where you develop cultural intelligence and communication skills as you thrive in a diverse and eclectic living environment.

Finally, the classroom is a place where you take the courage to try something new and grow from it. It can be going for your first trip overseas, starting a new internship, testing out an innovative idea, leading a student group on an expedition, or simply having the inner strength to eat by yourself in a crowded canteen for the first time.

With all that said, how do you now embrace this expanded classroom in NUS? From the planned student life activities, you will get a glimpse of the mega-classroom you are about to partake in, and to be prepared and be excited for it. Most of all, we hope you also find a group of friends who carry the same excitement and trepidations in the process. As you journey together, it is our hope that the friendship and the bonds forged will form part of your shared memories that ultimately makes the NUS experience one truly unique and personal for you.

I wish you a safe, purposeful, and fantastic NUS experience.

The classroom is now opened.

Assoc Prof Ho Han Kiat
NUS Dean of Students