Tembusu College

Tembusu College is a residential and curricular college of the National University of Singapore. It offers the certificate-granting University Town College Programme (UTCP), and is the main teaching unit for the NUS’ Science, Technology and Society (STS) initiative. We also sponsor the Tembusu Forum series. One of the first curricular colleges in Singapore and Southeast Asia, Tembusu provide an exciting opportunity for undergraduate campus living. Tembusu College’s motto is The Home of Possibilities. Regardless of faculty, department, or major, being a member of our college is an opportunity for our undergraduates to grow as individuals while discovering more about themselves and those around them – and doing so within a community that is also evolving. Having a formal curriculum encompasses only one aspect of education at Tembusu College. From the beginning, we’ve paid as much attention to developing an informal, non-compulsory, ‘out of classroom’ curriculum creating signature activities. Much of the college experience happens in this ‘middle space’ between faculty-lead seminars and entirely student-led activities. Examples include Master’s Teas, Fellow’s and Student’s Teas, Reading Pods and overseas trips. The flagship event of our college — the Tembusu Forum — takes place twice a semester, and is hosted and moderated by our Rector and Singapore’s Ambassador-at-Large, Professor Tommy Koh. Compelling, important, and occasionally controversial, issues — often suggested by students — are discussed and debated by prominent guest speakers at the forefront of their respective fields. This is also one of the few forums of its kind in which students direct all the questions to guests, allowing them to practice public speaking skills and enhance critical thinking.