Singapore - SUTD breaks ground for new campus at Changi

SINGAPORE - The first phase of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) campus at Changi will be ready by 2015.

The ground-breaking ceremony was held today, attended by guest-of-honour Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat.

Phase 1 comprises academic and residential blocks.

The campus, designed to be eco-friendly, will see green technology design features.

Its buildings for example, are tilted to maximise natural sunlight and ventilation.

Emphasizing sustainability, there will also be a bio-retention pond to irrigate plants using recycled water.

Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the university, Singapore's fourth publicly-funded varsity, will add to the diversity of options here.

He said: "We had in mind not only the number of additional publicly-funded places that we could create. We also wanted diversity.

"We wanted to create new and different pathways, so that taken together with our established institutions, we have a landscape of options for young Singaporeans with diverse interests and abilities to prepare themselves for the opportunities and responsibilities of the 21st century."

SUTD will collaborate with two foreign university partners, the Massachusetts of Technology in the US, and Zhejiang University in China.

Students will also take courses from a range of academic disciplines.

Said SUTD President Tom Magnanti: "I think we're going to have a very robust set of graduates who can go in many ways. We're always going to have economic upturns, downturns, but we're going to educate people for the long haul."

Classes will start in April 2012 with an initial cohort of 500 students.

AsiaOne

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