Koh Boon Hwee to step down as NTU chairman after 28 years

NANYANG Technological University (NTU) announced on Tuesday that its chairman Koh Boon Hwee will be stepping down on March 31, after 28 years of service.

Mr Koh, who is also the former chairman of Singtel, Singapore Airlines and DBS Bank, will be handing over his duties to Goh Swee Chen, chairman of the National Arts Council, Institute of HR Professionals, and Global Compact Network Singapore.

Under Mr Koh's guidance, NTU progressed from six to 15 schools and welcomed its first medical school, Singapore's third, in 2013.(see Amendment note)

Shortly after the university attained its autonomous status in 2006, he introduced a president-provost leadership model and hired NTU's first provost Bertil Andersson in 2007, who revamped the academic programmes and systems to support greater learning.

NTU went on to set up its first national Research Centre of Excellence and opened the Earth Observatory of Singapore in 2007, followed by a second centre in 2012. The two research centres marked NTU's transition from a predominantly teaching-led university into a research-intensive one.

With Mr Koh at the helm, NTU's QS World University Rankings went up 61 places from 74th place in 2010, to the current 13th place. It has also kept its place at the top for seven consecutive years in QS's league of the world's best young universities below 50 years old.

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Minister for Education Lawrence Wong said: "As the longest-serving university chairman for almost three decades, Boon Hwee's contributions to NTU and the university landscape have been immense.

"Under his visionary leadership, NTU has grown into a world-class institution with high standards in education."

Ms Goh said she was honoured to succeed Mr Koh and committed to working with members of the university community to further strengthen NTU's global and societal impact.

Commenting on Ms Goh's appointment, NTU president Subra Suresh said: "We are also excited to welcome Swee Chen to her new role. She has extensive global experience in diverse fields that span the business and social sectors.

"We look forward to her leadership as we strive to strengthen NTU's rapidly growing status as a leading university in the world to further expand its impact in Singapore, the region and around the globe."

Amendment note: An earlier version of this article stated that NTU's medical school was opened in 2010. NTU has since corrected the opening date to be 2013. The article above has been revised to reflect this.