NTU Singapore announces new interdisciplinary core curriculum for undergraduates

NTU Singapore today announced that it will introduce a new common core curriculum that places stronger emphasis on interdisciplinary skills, for all undergraduates.

The new curriculum will help to prepare a new generation of NTU graduates who have the ability to make intellectual connections more quickly and easily across disciplines to be better prepared to tackle the world’s complex problems, and to develop into problem solvers and leaders.

The university has long prized collaboration amongst faculty and research teams from different disciplines. NTU’s faculty and academic leaders believe that interdisciplinary skills will become increasingly more important in a world driven by digital technologies. The impact of such technologies on individuals and society will increasingly be impacted by human behaviour requiring the interweaving of a wide spectrum of intellectual disciplines and considerations.

Starting in Academic Year 2021/2022, NTU’s new Common Foundational & Interdisciplinary Collaborative Curriculum will comprise learning modules dealing with grand challenges such as climate change and global health. By bringing together different perspectives, students will develop a more comprehensive understanding of complex situations and will learn to apply and knit together ideas from different fields to come up with creative solutions. NTU will pilot the new curriculum next month for the College of Engineering, the College of Science and the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, before its full adoption a year later.