Singapore’s first arts university to open in August 2024, applications accepted from 2023
SINGAPORE – A new university called the University of the Arts Singapore (UAS) will open its doors in August 2024.
The university – the first in Singapore to focus on the arts – will be formed by an alliance between Lasalle College of the Arts and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) and start receiving applications in the third quarter of next year, said the Ministry of Education, Lasalle and Nafa in a joint statement on Tuesday (Aug 30).
MOE will give UAS the ability to grant degrees in areas such as fine arts and music, the ministry said in a press briefing on Tuesday, ending Lasalle and Nafa’s current system of awarding degrees in partnership with reputable British universities.
Lasalle has partnered Goldsmiths University in London to validate its degrees since 2012, and Nafa started similar arrangements with Britain’s Royal College of Music in 2011 and the University of the Arts London in January last year.
The last batches of students enrolling under these programmes will enter Lasalle in 2023 and Nafa in 2025 – but other collaborations, such as exchange programmes and joint projects will continue, said the institutions in Tuesday’s briefing.
From then on, students at both institutions will receive degrees from UAS displaying credits along the lines of UAS-Nafa or UAS-Lasalle.
The new university, which was mooted by then Education Minister Lawrence Wong at last year’s budget debate, will comprise Lasalle, Nafa and a new company limited by guarantee, and will continue to provide government-subsidised diplomas and degrees, MOE said.
To read more : The Straits Times
