Building a Foundation for Research Excellence

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6 Dec 2004

Building a Foundation for Research Excellence

1. The International Panel commissioned by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to study the establishment of a research-intensive science and technology (S&T) institution chaired by Prof Robert A. Brown, Provost of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has completed its work and submitted its recommendations to MOE (see Annex A for the composition of the Panel).

THE FOUNDATION PROPOSAL

2. The Panel believes that Singapore has an extraordinary opportunity to become an international centre of excellence for research and development (R&D) in Asia on par with the very best centres in the world. Singapore can grow into a knowledge-centred economy driven by this R&D engine to generate new ideas and create new industries, not just leverage ideas generated elsewhere.

3. To achieve this objective, three types of research efforts are required:

a. Research and development strategy aimed at intellectual and human capital for the economic development and security of Singapore;

b. University research of high academic excellence; and

c. Centers of excellence for world-class research and graduate education in disciplines that are broadly aligned with a long-term vision of the strategic interests of Singapore.

4. The Panel notes that the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the universities have made great strides in promoting the first two types of research, and in drawing several top scientists into Singapore. To complement the first two pillars of research, the Panel recommends establishing a Foundation as a third pillar that will invest substantial resources in people rather than specific research outcomes, i.e. in world-class research investigators who can determine their own research agendas, create a broad base of new knowledge to drive Singapore’s development and also act as magnets to attract the best young talent to Singapore. This Foundation should be committed to creating a culture of research excellence that is built upon the quality of the investigators and graduate students recruited.

5. The Panel envisages the proposed Foundation to be an independent entity which could either be a government agency or a separate not-for-profit corporation which will support both an intramural and extramural programme. At steady state, the Foundation is envisaged to establish five intramural institutes in broadly defined research areas of long-term strategic benefit to Singapore with a view to promoting a fertile intellectual landscape, rather than exploiting short term economic opportunities. The key features of the Foundation structure are outlined in Annex B.

6. After due consideration, the Panel does not favour the establishment of a new S&T university along the lines of NUS Buona Vista for the time being. A university that educates graduate and undergraduate students on the scale proposed will be a massive undertaking in terms of the breadth of educational provisions required. The cost of sustaining the level of research activity for such a university at the high international standards envisioned by the Panel will also be prohibitive. The Panel is of the view that the Foundation model is a more appropriate approach to achieve the objectives articulated above and maximise opportunities for cooperation and synergy between the existing universities and research agencies.

NEXT STEPS

7. The Panel’s recommendations will be tabled for discussion at the 5th Meeting of MOE’s International Academic Advisory Panel from 11-14 January 05. Thereafter, the Ministerial Committee on R&D chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Tony Tan will consider the proposal before the Government makes a decision on the proposal sometime in the middle of 2005.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

8. In 2003, the Committee to Review the University Sector and Graduate Manpower Planning mooted the idea of setting up a niche S&T university with a vibrant research culture. NUS Buona Vista was envisaged to cater to 4,000 postgraduate research students and 2,000-4,000 undergraduates. The Government, in accepting the Committee’s recommendations on 28 May 2003, noted that NUS Buona Vista was still at a conceptual stage. MOE would study the idea thoroughly to determine the best way of achieving the objective of establishing a research-intensive institution of excellence in science and engineering.

9. In June 03, MOE commissioned MIT Provost, Prof Robert Brown to chair an International Panel to study and recommend various ways to develop a research-intensive S&T institution in Singapore, including possible financial and human resource models that can ensure the optimal development and sustainability of such an institution. The Panel of five eminent scientists was appointed in August 03.

10. The International Panel has sought a broad range of views from the key stakeholders involved in furthering S&T research in Singapore – NUS, NTU, MTI, MINDEF, MOH, A*STAR, EDB and DSTA.

Annex A

Composition of the International Panel

Chairman
Prof Robert A. Brown	Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Members
Lord Alec N. Broers	President, The Royal Academy of Engineering (UK)
Prof Eric S. Lander	Director, Broad Institute Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (US)
Prof Ulrich W. Suter	Vice-President for Research, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich (Switzerland)
Prof Axel Ullrich	Director, Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (Germany); and Research Director, Singapore Oncogenome Laboratory, Centre for Molecular Medicine

Annex B

Summary of the International Panel’s Recommendations

1. The Panel recommends that Singapore move aggressively to develop the funding and infrastructure to establish elite, investigator-led, graduate-student-driven research institutes with the goal of establishing world-class fundamental research efforts led by the highest quality investigators in select areas of science and engineering. These institutes should be established in thematic areas of inquiry to be magnets for attracting a cadre of extraordinary scientists and engineering scientists to Singapore to create new knowledge and technologies, to educate generations of graduate students and to become world-renowned as centers of excellence in research and graduate education.

2. The Panel believes that Singapore has an extraordinary opportunity to become an international center for research and development in Asia ahead of any center of excellence in the region and on a par with the very best centers in the world. Seizing this opportunity requires Singapore to develop a tripartite research and development strategy. The components of this strategy are:

a. Research and development strategy aimed at intellectual and human capital for the economic development and security of Singapore;

b. University research of high academic excellence; and

c. Centers of excellence for world-class research and graduate education in disciplines that are broadly aligned with a long-term vision of the strategic interests of Singapore.

3. The first component of this strategy is the mission of A*STAR under the direction of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. A*STAR has made great strides in building this mission-oriented research portfolio, especially in building new centers in the biosciences, and drawing several top scientists into Singapore. The universities, working with the Ministry of Education and A*STAR, supply research opportunities for the faculty members in the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. Although both universities have made very significant progress in raising the level of research on their campuses, the considerable size of the faculties needed to support their educational missions and the total amount of research support available make it difficult for the research support to have a very large impact on even the very best faculty of the universities.

4. The focus of the Panel’s deliberations has been on the third goal for research in Singapore. The Panel recommends that the Singapore Government form a Foundation with the mission of supporting world-class research investigators in basic science and engineering science disciplines that are broadly aligned with a long-term vision of the strategic interests of Singapore. The excellence of the research in this effort will be built on the quality of the investigators and of the graduate students recruited to work with them. The Foundation and the Singapore Government must be committed to establishing the culture of excellence and the meritocracy among the Foundation’s investigators and students needed to support this culture.

5. The Foundation will be led by a President of the Foundation, be funded directly by the Singapore government, and report to an independent Board of Trustees composed of internationally known scientists and engineers. Among other responsibilities, the Board will be responsible for the quality of investigator appointments, for the strategic organization of the programs, and approving the budget of the Foundation and recommending it to the government.

6. The Foundation will support the development of new intramural research institutions in strategically important, but broadly defined research areas. Each research institute will be led by a Director and staffed by independent research investigators who will set their own research agenda. In addition, each investigator will be a faculty member at either NUS or NTU and participate as a member of an academic department and teach in the university programs, especially in graduate education. Each Foundation investigator will have a term appointment governed by rigorous appointment and review processes based on international standards for justifying the block funding of their research by the Foundation. The investigators are the cornerstones of the Foundations; the success of the Foundation will depend totally on the quality of these appointments.

7. There will be a focus on graduate student-led research carried out by students supported by the Foundation, but who are enrolled in doctoral programs administered by the two universities; the Foundation should not establish independent graduate programs. The intramural research institutes should be physically adjacent to one another in order to develop a high concentration of the highest quality research and graduate education. Optimally, these facilities should be in close proximity to one of the universities.

8. In addition, the Foundation should support extramural appointments of investigators from the two universities or government laboratories, such as those sponsored by A*STAR or MINDEF. These extramural investigators will be subject to the same appointment and review processes as the intramural investigators and should be formally aligned with the intramural research institutes.

9. The Panel envisions that a successful, high-impact implementation of the Foundation will eventually support approximately 100 investigators in five research institutes and will require an annual operating budget of approximately S$142M, in addition to a capital budget for major facilities. Funding for this effort should be viewed as the third portion of the tripartite research and development strategy described above. The funding of the Foundation is a long-term strategic investment by the Government in the excellence of research and the strategic development of the associated human capital in Singapore.