Every year automakers roll out "concept" cars, which incorporate novel design elements that may become standard years from now. Singapore has taken the rarer step of building a concept university, one meant to road-test the latest in teaching theory and academic features.
Singapore University of Technology and Design, now under construction, is a big gamble for a high-tech city-state that considers a globally competitive work force its key to national survival. Government officials are betting more than $700-million that the new venture will cultivate the next generation of innovators in architecture, engineering, and information systems.
One selling point of the institution, which is to start classes on a temporary campus in 2012, is that it is associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. On many renderings of the logo, the words "Established in collaboration with MIT" appear in red letters, suggesting that the new venture expects to replicate the prestigious U.S. university.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Singapore's Newest University Is an Education Lab for Technology - International - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Author: Jeffrey R. Young
