NUS President, Prof Tan Chorh Chuan (third from right), with NUS Faculty members, accepting the gift from the Keppel Care Foundation.
The Keppel Group of Companies (Keppel) recently made four gifts to the National University of Singapore (NUS) in support of medicine, engineering, social work, NUS University Town and Yale-NUS College. This was announced at a fundraising concert held to launch Keppel Care Foundation to celebrate Keppel Offshore & Marine’s 10th anniversary. The Foundation will focus on providing assistance to the underprivileged, promoting education and encouraging eco-friendly initiatives. The concert took place at NUS’ University Cultural Centre and was attended by former President of the Republic of Singapore, Mr S R Nathan.
In his speech at the launch of the Foundation, Dr Lee Boon Yang, Chairman of Keppel Corporation Ltd, said, “Over the years, the Keppel Group has actively engaged our community in Singapore and abroad where we do business. We have contributed to many charitable activities.
“With the Group’s growing businesses and presence around the world, there is a need to sharpen our focus and organise the efforts and contributions to worthy causes. Hence, we decided to establish a foundation to provide a more structured and sustainable framework for the Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility works at home and abroad.”
Accepting the gifts on behalf of the University, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, President, NUS, said, “We are deeply appreciative of these new gifts that build on the unwavering support Keppel has given NUS for many years. Keppel’s generosity, across a wide number of disciplines, including medicine, engineering and social work, helps NUS offer a distinctive and rich experience to our students; attract world-leading faculty; roll out innovative initiatives such as University Town and Yale-NUS College; and contribute to the communities around us. It is the sustained and strong support of benefactors such as Keppel that allows NUS to continue to contribute with impact to Singapore and beyond.”
The gift to the Keppel-National University of Singapore (NUS) Vietnam Programme in Medicine will support NUS’ Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s work with Hanoi Medical University and Vietnam Military Medical University to improve healthcare in the region, train medical leaders and student and promote better understanding between Singapore and Vietnam. Another gift to the Keppel Chair Professorship Programme will help promote Ocean, Marine and Offshore Technology and enhance the competitiveness of the industry through the transfer of technology and the creation of new knowledge and processes.
A further gift to the S R Nathan Professorship in Social Work, set up in honour of Former President of the Republic of Singapore and an NUS alumnus, Mr S R Nathan, will support the long-term goal of promoting social work education and encouraging research among scholars in Singapore and Asia on issues related to social development, poverty and asset building.
Keppel also made a gift to support the Toh Chin Chye Programmes at NUS set up in honour of NUS’ predecessor institution, the University of Singapore’s Vice-Chancellor. The Programmes include the Toh Chin Chye Visiting Professorships and Fellowships at NUS’ University Town, which will allow NUS to bring renowned academics to teach and mentor students, and the Toh Chin Chye Study Awards at Yale-NUS College, which will help ensure that admission to the College will be accessible to talented students from the widest possible backgrounds.
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