Partnering for allied health

NUS inked a collaborative agreement with the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) on 1 September 2016 for the joint delivery of courses for SIT’s Allied Health degree programmes. These programmes comprise the Bachelor of Science degrees in Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Diagnostic Radiography and Radiation Therapy. The signing was witnessed by Dr Janil Puthucheary, Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information, and Ministry of Education.

The five-year collaboration, SIT’s first with NUS, involves the co-development and co-teaching of curricula, pedagogical research and access to NUS laboratory facilities for SIT students. Lectures and tutorials will be held at SIT’s interim campus in Dover, while laboratory sessions will be conducted at NUS. Faculty from NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and SIT will co-teach Anatomy and Physiology modules.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, SIT President Professor Tan Thiam Soon acknowledged the contributions of Associate Professor Yeoh Khay Guan, Dean of NUS Medicine, as instrumental to the partnership. He said, “This collaboration will ensure that the Anatomy and Physiology components in these Allied Health degree programmes are not only relevant, rigorous and future-ready, but are also well-integrated with the respective Allied Health curricula. Furthermore, SIT students will be able to strengthen their applied knowledge, gain mastery of key subjects in their degree programmes, and become better specialists in areas such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, diagnostic radiography and radiation therapy.”

NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan agreed that the joint work will translate into more, well-trained and qualified professionals for the national healthcare system. “The need for this is high and growing, particularly with Singapore’s rapidly ageing population. NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine has world-class expertise and state-of-the-art facilities for biomedical and health sciences education. By partnering with SIT, we can make these available to an expanded student population and contribute in new ways to training healthcare professionals for Singapore,” he said.

NUS will welcome the first group of SIT students this October.

After the signing ceremony, Dr Puthucheary, Prof Tan Thiam Soon and Prof Tan Chorh Chuan, along with other heads of SIT and NUS, toured the Anatomy Museum, housed in the Human Anatomy Teaching Facility at NUS Medicine