Saturday, 8 November 2014
The Straits Times
This was a report on the gala dinner to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Department of Economics at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Speaking at the gala dinner, Emeritus Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong said that as Singapore runs up against new social challenges, it will need more local social science researchers to understand the country’s situation, conduct applied research and offer possible policy solutions.
Professor Julian Wright, Head of the Department, said that it is critical that what the Department teaches is differentiated, locally relevant and more interactive. From next year, economics honours students will for the first time be able to specialise in a topic, in areas such as quantitative economics or financial and monetary economics. The Department will also introduce a compulsory module where award-winning lecturers from different fields are invited to address real-world economic questions.
Mr Goh also launched a student-led economics mentorship programme, a collaboration between the NUS Economics Alumni and the NUS Economics Society, at the event.
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