New Singapore Medical School to be Created by Imperial College London and Nanyang Technological University

A new medical school training undergraduate doctors in Singapore and awarding joint Imperial College London and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) degrees is to be established by 2013, it was confirmed today.

The school, an autonomous school of NTU which will be jointly managed by NTU and Imperial College London, will see Imperial developing and delivering a course overseas for the first time.

The school will admit its first cohort of 50 students in 2013, the majority of whom will be Singaporean. At steady state, over 750 students will be enrolled in the five-year Imperial-NTU undergraduate medicine degree course, and approximately 150 new students will be admitted annually.

The main aim of the medical school, which will be the third in Singapore, will be to train more high quality doctors and medical leaders.

Few potential Singaporean medical students have the opportunity to study at Imperial or other UK medical schools, regardless of their academic ability, due to a cap of 7.5% on international students attending the UK’s schools.

Sir Keith O’Nions FRS, Rector of Imperial College London, said: "We are extremely proud to be working with Singapore, a country we have long admired for its support and application of world class science, engineering and medicine.

"Our newest partnership with NTU is extremely exciting and we are delighted to be joining forces with an institution that embodies many of our own aspirations, to develop a new generation of Singaporean doctors."

Dr Su Guaning, President of NTU, said: "NTU is delighted to partner Imperial College London to set up the new joint medical school. As a leading science and technology university, NTU has extensive
research in biomedical solutions and devices, health economics and pandemic alleviation. Our ideas for future healthcare systems and research into therapies and medical technology will put NTU at
the forefront of innovation in medical solutions and healthcare systems."

The new medical school will be funded by NTU, a publicly-funded university, and will be jointly managed by Imperial College London and NTU. The school will have its own governing board with representatives from Imperial, NTU and other Singaporean stakeholders such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and the National Healthcare Group. The partnership agreement between Imperial College and NTU covers an initial term of 18 years.