Research Report

APRC-FY2022-RR-02

Research on the Nurturing and Maintaining of STI talent in
Singapore (Addendum):
The Driving Forces behind the Progress at NUS and NTU
February 2024

Japan Science and Technology Agency

Established in April 2021, the Asia and Pacific Research Center (APRC) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) aims
to contribute to building a foundation for innovation in Japan by expanding and deepening science and technology cooperation in
the Asia-Pacific region based on the three pillars of research, information dissemination, and networking.
This report is compiled as part of a research that surveyed and analyzed science and technology innovation policies, researchand development trends, and associated economic and social circumstances in the Asia-Pacific region. It is being made public on
the APRC website and portal site to enable wide use by policymakers, associated researchers, and people with a strong interestin collaborating with the Asia-Pacific region; please see the websites below for more details.

APRC website:
https://www.jst.go.jp/aprc/en/index.html
Research Report (Japanese website):https://spap.jst.go.jp/investigation/report.html

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Research on the Nurturing and Retention of STI talent in the Asia and Pacific Regions: Singapore (Addendum): The Driving Forces behind the Progress at NUS and NTU

Summary
In many indicators, Singapore has shown scientific and technological capabilities that are equal to or better thanthose of other developed countries, and the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological
University (NTU) have emerged as top universities in Asia and the Pacific. In order to clarify the reasons for the
rapid progress of both universities and the background and aims of their medium-term plans from the perspectiveof nurturing and maintaining human resources, this report conducted interviews to obtain the views of policy
authorities and receptions at research sites. Through the results, it became clear that Singapore’s bold and systemic
national initiatives were behind its progress. At the end of the 20th century, the government announced a policy toreform both universities to focus on research, set aside funds in Singapore’s medium-term plans, and then steadily
allocated the funds to encourage implementation of this policy. The medium-term plan also designated strategic
priority areas and sought to rapidly raise the level of Singapore’s research and development capabilities by inviting
top foreign talent. Going forward, from the perspective of improving autonomous and sustainable research anddevelopment capabilities, there is also a visible trend of the government focusing on nurturing and maintaining
domestic human resources. The rich and unparalleled internationality, as seen in Singapore’s extremely highpercentage of foreign researchers, is exactly what the research environment in Japan is severely lacking, andSingapore’s case can be considered to be highly instructive.

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Research on the Nurturing and Retention of STI talent in the Asia and Pacific Regions: Singapore (Addendum): The Driving Forces behind the Progress at NUS and NTU

Table of Contents
1

2Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………… 1
1.1

Objectives and Targets ……………………………………………………… 1

1.2

Methodology …………………………………………………………………… 1

1.3

Report Visits …………………………………………………………………… 1

The Rise of Singapore s Top Universities and the Reasons for theirAscent …………………………………………………………………………………… 4
2.1

The Rapid Progress of NUS and NTU ………………………………… 4

2.2

Clear Goal Setting by the Government and Universities ………… 5

2.3

Specific University Reforms and Government Support for
Becoming World-Class Research Universities ……………………… 5

3

Background and Aims for Formulating a National Strategy to
Improve Scientific Research Capabilities …………………………………… 12
3.1

The Functions and Roles of Funding in Nurturing and
Maintaining Research Human Resources …………………………… 12

3.2

Policy Coordination with Related Domestic Organizations …… 13

3.3

Maintaining Overseas Human Resources and Nurturing
Domestic Human Resources …………………………………………… 14

4

3.4

Reliably Maintaining and Flexibly Utilizing Budgets ……………… 14

3.5

Future Prospects …………………………………………………………… 15

Perceptions on Nurturing and Maintaining Human Resources fromthe Perspective of Research Sites ……………………………………………… 16

5

Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………… 19
5.1

Strengthening Nurturing and Maintenance of Human Resources
through University Reform ……………………………………………… 19

5.2

The Importance of Nurturing Domestic Human Resources …… 19

5.3

Suggestions for Japan …………………………………………………… 20

Contributors ………………………………………………………………………………… 22

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Research on the Nurturing and Retention of STI talent in the Asia and Pacific Regions: Singapore (Addendum): The Driving Forces behind the Progress at NUS and NTU

1 Introduction
1.1 Objectives and Targets
The JST Asia and Pacific Research Center promotes science and technology cooperation with major countries in
the Asia-Pacific region, and conducted the “Research on the Nurturing and Maintaining STI Talent in Singapore(hereinafter referred to as the “Talent Report 2022”)” in FY2022 in order to clarify matters that should be referred
to in promoting nurturing and maintaining of Japan’s science and technology human resources. The report was
primarily conducted via desktop research, but the following items were difficult to fully understand using only thismethod:･ Reasons for why NUS and NTU have rapidly become the top research universities in the Asia-Pacific region･ Background and aims for formulating a national strategy to improve scientific research capabilities･P erceptions of Singapore’s measures for nurturing and maintaining human resources from the perspective ofresearch sites, and opinions about Japan
As such, it was decided that these matters would be clarified through on-site surveys and that they would be
published as a supplemental report to the Talent Report 2022.

1.2 Methodology
While this report primarily conducted in-person interviews via on-site visits, remote interviews with someparticipants were also conducted via online meetings.
The questions for policymakers and university executives were based on the facts as investigated in the Talent
Report 2022, and, in line with the three report objectives listed above, these interviews were aimed to clarify andunderstand the actual, on-the-ground situation that is difficult to fully understand through desktop research.
The same questions as those mentioned above were also put to researchers working at local universities
and research institutes, and they were asked to respond with laboratory-level views and responses or with theuniversity’s views. This was done because, by adding the views of research sites to the views of the authorities, itwould be possible to evaluate Singapore’s efforts objectively and from multiple perspectives.

1.3 Report Visits
The names, affiliations, and biographies of the individuals visited are as follows (affiliations and positions are as of
the time of the visit).

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Research on the Nurturing and Retention of STI talent in the Asia and Pacific Regions: Singapore (Addendum): The Driving Forces behind the Progress at NUS and NTU

Beh Kian Teik, CEO, National Research Foundation, Singapore (NRF)
After majoring in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
and the University of California graduate school, Beh Kian Teik worked at the Singapore
Economic Development Board (EDB) for more than 22 years. He is involved in industryacademia collaboration and is responsible for supporting the startups of many entrepreneurs.
Since July 2020 he has been appointed as the NRF’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and is
involved in the formulation, evaluation, and implementation of the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) fiveyear plans. He assumed his current position from August 2022, when he succeeded Low Teck Seng.

Aaron Thean, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost, NUS
Aaron Thean majored in microelectronics, and also serves as the Director of the National
Research Foundation’s SHINE centre, a next-generation microelectronics research facility,
and the A*STAR SIMTech–NUS Joint Laboratory for Large-Area Flexible HybridElectronics. After 20 years of research and development work at major semiconductor
technology companies in the United States and Europe, including IBM, Qualcomm CDMATechnologies, and Motorola, he transferred to NUS in 2016 under Singapore’s talent recall program. At NUS
he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering from 2019, and as the Dean of the College of Design andEngineering from 2022 to 2023.

Timothy J. White, Vice President (International Engagement), NTU
Timothy White received his PhD from the Australian National University in mineralchemistry and crystallography, and has spent over 30 years designing and demonstrating
materials for nuclear power, environmental, superconductivity, ionic conduction, andhydrogen storage applications. He assumed his current position after serving as an associate
professor and then professor at NTU’s School of Materials Science and Engineering,
and as Co-Director of the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N). He has held senior positions at ANU
and the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering (Singapore), and was seconded to the Institute forTransuranium Elements (Germany) and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).

Sato Hirotaka, Professor, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, NTU
Sato Hirotaka completed the doctoral course at the Department of Applied Chemistry in
the School of Advanced Science and Engineering at Waseda University. After working asa researcher at the University of Michigan and at the University of California, Berkeley, hebecame an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at NTU
in 2011, an associate professor in 2018, and his current position in 2022.

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Eda Goki, Associate Professor, NUS Centre for Advanced 2D Materials (CA2DM)
Eda Goki graduated from the Department of Science in the College of Liberal Arts at
International Christian University. He received his master’s degree from Worcester
Polytechnic Institute, his PhD from Rutgers University, and served as a researcher at Imperial
College London, before assuming his current position in 2011.

Yvonne Y. Gao, Associate Professor, NUS Centre for Quantum Technologies
After graduating from high school, Yvonne Gao moved to England and received herbachelor’s degree in physics from Oxford University and then a PhD in physics from Yale
University. In 2020 while working at the A*STAR Institute of Materials Research andEngineering (IMRE), she was selected as one of the “Innovators Under 35” by the MIT
Technology Review and as one of “The Asian Scientist 100” by Asian Scientist Magazine.

Inoue Kyota, Second Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Singapore* In addition to the above individuals, an in-person interview was conducted with one researcher working at
A*STAR.

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2 The Rise of Singapore s Top Universities
and the Reasons for their AscentIn the 2023 world university rankings, NUS and NTU rapidly increased their position in terms of scientific researchstrength, with NUS being ranked 11th by QS and 19th by THE, and NTU being ranked 19th by QS and 36th by
THE. In particular, as mentioned in Talent Report 2022, NUS has maintained the highest ranking in the AsiaPacific region for five consecutive years since 2018 in the QS university rankings.
In general, English-speaking universities tend to dominate the top levels of university world rankings. However,
why Singaporean universities have achieved in the top position in the English-speaking areas of the Asia-Pacificregion, beating out larger economies such as Australia and India? Based on interviews with NUS and NTU executives,
this section explores the circumstances surrounding and secrets behind the rapid rise to prominence of both schools.

2.1 The Rapid Progress of NUS and NTU
Why have NUS and NTU become top universities in the Asia-Pacific region? A shared reason can be attributed
to the reforms made from the end of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, when they shifted frombeing education-oriented universities to being research-oriented universities.
As has already been seen in the Talent Report 2022, NUS has established eight affiliated research institutes andsix Centres of Excellence (COE) since the beginning of the 21st century, and is strengthening its ties with major
cities around the world, including in the United States, China, India, and Sweden.1 Foreign researchers accounted
for only approx. 10% of the total number of NUS researchers in the 1980s, but this increased to 39% in 1997 and to
more than half between 2007 to 2012. A series of hub institutions with industry, such as the Technology Transfer
and Innovation office (established in 1995), NUS Enterprise (established in 2000), and entrepreneurship centers,
were also establish, and the number of national patent applications has doubled in the 10 years since 2012 (Talent
Report 2022, Figure 2-13).
Furthermore, according to Vice President White, by 2014 NTU had transformed itself from a college with only
an engineering and business faculty into a comprehensive university by establishing new faculties for science,
medicine, and the humanities and social sciences.
The following factors can be cited as reasons for both universities’ remarkable development as research-oriented
universities.
(1) Clear goals set by the government and universities to “develop from teaching universities to world-classresearch universities.”(2) Implementing major university reforms in terms of appointment and evaluation methods for human resourcesin order to shift from being education-centered to being research-centered1

In the late 1990s, 12 experts from industry, academia, and government visited the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, and Israel toinspect their undergraduate admissions systems. Tan, J. (1999) “Recent Developments in Higher Education in Singapore.” International Higher
Education, (14). https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.1999.14.6463 .

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Research on the Nurturing and Retention of STI talent in the Asia and Pacific Regions: Singapore (Addendum): The Driving Forces behind the Progress at NUS and NTU(3) S teady and significant increases in university research funds by the government(4) S trategic research initiatives by establishing key science and technology fields for the country and universities(5) P romoting international collaborations by acquiring outstanding foreign human resources and domestic

collaborations by nurturing domestic human resources(6) S trengthening industry-academia collaboration, both on and off campus

In Singapore, the government and universities have cooperated to carry out large-scale university reforms without
hesitation despite numerous difficulties and conflicts, including a large-scale replacement of faculty members toachieve these goals, and have strongly promoted the six measures listed above. The authors believe that NUS andNTU were formed into world-class universities by promoting measures (2) to (6) through government-university
partnership, in line with the goal (1) set by the government.
In the following sections, we will see how these six measures have been implemented in Singapore.

2.2 Clear Goal Setting by the Government and Universities
Singapore’s share of the world’s GDP has quadrupled over the past 40 years, and the country has come to rival
developed countries as a hub for growth in Asia, particularly in the financial sector. With this economic growth, thefocus has been on further strengthening research and development and building capacity for innovation to stimulateeven more sustainable growth.
In 1997, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced a policy goal for NUS, NTU, and the newly reorganizedSingapore Management University (formerly the Singapore Management Institute) of “developing the three
universities from education-oriented universities to world-class research-oriented universities” in order to further
develop Singapore.2 In 2006, NUS and NTU were made into “autonomous universities” with greater management
autonomy in order to compete with universities around the world and to provide a unique education.3 This madeit possible for them to make discretionary decisions regarding the direction of research and development, as well
as for investments in human resources and equipment for this direction, thereby accelerating their shift to research
universities.

2.3 Specific University Reforms and Government Support for
Becoming World-Class Research Universities
2.3.1 Reforming the Appointment and Evaluation Methods for Science andTechnology Human Resources
In order to shift the evaluation focus of faculty members’ performance from education to research, both universities
2Singapore Government, “NUS, NTU, SMU to Become Autonomous Universities,” April 12, 2005. Currently, there are six autonomous
universities, including the three mentioned above. https://www.moe.gov.sg/post-secondary/overview/autonomous-universities

3

Wong, P.-K., Y.-P. Ho, and A. Singh (2007). “Towards an “Entrepreneurial University” Model to Support Knowledge-Based Economic
Development: The Case of the National University of Singapore,” World Development, 35(6), p.954.

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implemented groundbreaking university reforms that were fraught with difficulties. In other words, domestic
faculty whose research performance was poor were replaced, and foreign scholars were actively appointed. Efforts
were also made to secure students who would lead the next generation of scientific research. In order to foster its
own citizens, the number of international undergraduate students was limited to a certain percentage (15%) or less,4but, based on the idea of non-discrimination between Singaporean citizens and foreign nationals in R&D, more than
50% of graduate students are international students.
Also, a strict tenure-track system was introduced as part of the university reforms. Obtaining tenure provides
a faculty member with greater research autonomy and the right to hire the personnel necessary to achieve theirresearch.
NUS adopted a tenure-track system in 2001 as part of the university reforms. According to associate professor
Yusuke Toyama (Deputy Director, Mechanobiology Institute, Department of Biological Sciences),5 during a typicaltenure track term of seven years candidates must accumulate results and achievements primarily in education andresearch, submit review documents at the end of the sixth year, and then, after one year of review, a decision ismade on whether or not to appoint them as faculty without a fixed term. Academic affairs and committee work islargely exempted, but tenured faculty without a fixed term and administrative staff work together to support anenvironment in which young researchers can focus on their next career. This kind of organized career development
system fosters cooperative and practical faculty who can also handle academic affairs.
According to Vice President White, in order to obtain tenure at NTU, candidates must meet strict standards along
three axes of evaluation during a seven-year term: research, education, and social contributions. Grants of tenure aredeliberated upon by the Promotion and Tenure Committee, which is chaired by the university’s Provost. Of the ten
individuals providing recommendations, three must be co-authors with the applicant, and seven must be unaffiliatedindependent researchers. In addition to letters of recommendation, the applicant must also prepare a large numberof other documents, including research and teaching history, student evaluations of the applicant’s teaching, andcitation reports of the applicant’s achievements as extracted from library services. Even so, the conversion rate totenure is said to be around 65%, meaning that one out of every three or four applicants will not receive tenure.
Furthermore, according to Vice President White, in order to accelerate its transition to a research university, inthe 2010s NTU utilized such evaluations through the tenure-track system and implemented a series of reforms (1)to dismiss approximately 250 faculty members who were inactive in research activities in order to create room forsecuring more talented science and technology personnel, and (2) to secure approximately 60 to 70% of its humanresources by recruiting them from external organizations (other domestic universities and foreign universities).
While the evaluation process has become more rigorous, a system has also been established that allows
individuals with outstanding expertise to begin autonomous research from the early stages of their careers. For
example, the introduction of the Presidential Young Professorship at NUS establishes (1) A tenure-track position4	According to an official announcement by then Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat, the proportion of international students would belowered from 18% to 15% in order to free up places for Singaporean students. “University World news” August 21, 2011 https://www.
universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20110819174750326

5

RA Council 7th Annual Conference Planning Session A-3, “Considering Ways to Support Young Researchers,” September 15, 2021. The
following transcript of the lecture was referenced from the website of the Osaka University Office of Management and Planning. https://www.
ura.osaka-u.ac.jp/images/vol74_ambai_transcript_v2.1.pdf#page=18

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with an attractive salary package as an assistant professor at NUS, (2) Up to $1 million SGD (108 million JPY,
1SGD=108JPY) in a start-up research grant attached to (1) and the discretionary authority to hire PhD students
as researchers, (3) An award of $250,000 SGD (27 million JPY) in white space funding (from the NRF five-yearplans; described below) which can be flexibly used, and (4) An opportunity to compete for an NRF Fellowship.6

2.3.2 Steady Increases in Government Funding for University Research
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Figure 2-1:Changes in Own Funds and Competitive Funds Contributed to NTU Over Time
(Units: $10,000 SGD)Source: NTU Annual Report 2010, p.97 and NTU at a Glance 2023, p.18.

Each university᾿s research budget is made up of both its own funds and competitive funds, with steady increases
seen in both the amount of funds and systemic allocations being made in accordance with the national five-year
plan. As an example, Figure 2-1 shows budget trends for NTU. In the past ten years, NTU᾿s own budget has
increased by approximately 2.5 times, and, although data for the prior ten years is not available, competitive funds
have remained at around $570 million SGD for the last five years. This is high compared to the roughly 1.4 times
increase in research and development expenditures in Singapore as a whole during the same period, and as such it
can be said that NTU᾿s own funds have notably and significantly increased.
This increase was made possible by the rapid expansion of Singapore᾿s GDP, mainly due to increased foreign
direct investment, rather than through the university᾿s own measures, so a great deal depends on factors outside ofacademia.

2.3.3 Establishment of Strategic Science and Technology Fields
Singapore, which has limited physical and human resources compared to other developed countries, promotes
research and development based on the government᾿s five-year plans (the five-year plans are formulated by the
Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (with the NRF as the secretariat) in the Prime Minister᾿s Office, as
shown in section 3. Competitive research funds (mentioned in the previous section and obtained by universities
and public research institutions) are provided based on this government plan. On the other hand, each university
understands the direction of the national plan and, independently of the national plan, they define their own strategic

6Refer to the overview on the NUS website. https://www.nus.edu.sg/careers/NUS-Presidential-Young-Professorship.pdf

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science and technology fields and engage in focused promotion of them. It is believed that universities’ own funds
in their respective budgets (mentioned in the previous section and not including competitive funds) are primarily
used to promote strategic science and technology fields that the university has independently determined.
At NUS, strategic research fields are established through consultations between the university’s executive
department and the undergraduate departments, and research institutes targeting cutting-edge technology fields
are also flexibly established. Currently, the university’s key areas include aging; regional studies; bioscience andbridging medicine; finance and risk management; oceanography; materials science; smart nation; and sustainability
and cities; as well as the humanities and social sciences.7 NUS has also continued to focus on cutting-edge
technologies, such as through the establishment of the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) as a Centre of
Excellence for quantum science research.8 Deputy President Thean said, “I believe that the role of universities is tomaintain researchers’ motivation and to create diversity in research themes. As such, in principle we do not manage
professors’ research themes. However, we work with the departments and faculty to identify strategic research
themes, noting that the aim is to hire world-class researchers in those fields and to then provide them with funding
to enable them to conduct the best research possible.”This same trend can also be seen at NTU. According to Vice President White, NTU has announced its own fiveyear research strategy since 2010 and utilizes it to secure young researchers. NTU 2025, the university’s own
five-year plan for research strategy, designates strategic research clusters in science, technology, engineering,mathematics (STEM) and the humanities, including the Future of Industry; Health & Society; Resilient
Urbanisation & Natural Ecosystems; Artificial & Augmented Intelligence; Culture, Organisations & Society; andBrain & Learning.9 To support research promotion, NTU also secures research funding from both the government
and industry.
Vice President White noted that NTU has been hiring young, highly specialized researchers as associate
professors for the past 10 years in response to the predictions that artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science
will become increasingly important in the near future. As a result, he says, NTU has been able to maintain thenecessary personnel in these fields, which has led to an increase in citations of papers published by the university’slaboratories and an improvement in the university’s ranking index.
Vice President White also stated that NTU sometimes hires experienced world-class researchers to explore
new fields. For example, in paleoseismology there was a research and development foundation in Malaysia, butthat no such research and development foundation existed in Singapore. Therefore, in order to establish a newresearch institute, Professor Kerry Edward Sieh of the California Institute of Technology was appointed as a special
professor in July 2008, and he is said to have been instrumental in launching NTU’s paleoseismology program.10
In this way, both universities decide on science and technology fields to strategically prioritize, and are moving
forward with the appointment of human resources and organizational development that are in line with these fields.
7	Refer to the NUS website. https://nus.edu.sg/research/key-areas8	For more detailed trends, refer to Chapter 6 of the report “Policy and R&D trends of quantum technology in the leading countries of the Asia
and Pacific regions” (March 2023) by APRC.

9	NTU at a glance 2023, p.19.

10	

California Institute of Technology interview article. https://heritageproject.caltech.edu/interviews-updates/kerry-sieh
NTU also granted him with the title of Professor Emeritus in January 2020. https://blogs.ntu.edu.sg/science/2020/09/16/ntu-honours-formereos-director-kerry-sieh-with-emeritus-professorship/

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2.3.4 Promoting International Collaboration by Acquiring Outstanding Foreign
Human Resources and Domestic Collaboration by Nurturing Domestic
Human Resources
In Singapore, where natural resources are scarce, human resources are a precious resource. Talent Report 2022
points out that Singapore has been actively inviting outstanding foreign researchers, and that in 2020 foreign
researchers accounted for 30% of all researchers in Singapore. This is because it would have been difficult forSingapore to rapidly raise its research and development capabilities to the level that they are at today without
inviting top talent from abroad. On the other hand, both universities and the NRF expressed in this report theirintention to strongly promote the development of domestic human resources in addition to inviting outstanding
foreign researchers. This is because it is essential to nurture and promote domestic human resources in order tomaintain stable, autonomous, and sustainable research and development capabilities over the long term and to put
research and development results into practical use. The measures described in 2.3.1 were definitely taken against
this background, including the upper limit on the proportion of international undergraduate students and no upper
limit for international graduate students.
The specific responses of the government and both universities are shown below.
NRF CEO Beh stated that “We want talented people to see the world, so it's important to give them flexibility.
If all talented Singaporeans stayed in Singapore, then a mutual network of researchers would not develop,” andmentioned that the active participation and success of domestic human resources will lead to the development ofSingapore. For this reason, the government is working to improve the ecosystem for promoting science, technology,
and innovation by appointing people with science and technology expertise not only as researchers, but also inpolicy formation and research support.
NUS Deputy President Thean also suggested a deeper involvement in international research networks. “TheResearch & Technology section is exploring the creation of new programs that will strengthen international
cooperation. This is because our strength lies in our ability to conduct joint research with various universities
around the world and the strong ties between individual professors. Similarly, we university executives typically do
not intervene in what professors do or with whom they collaborate. We just provide support.”
On the other hand, depending on the characteristics of the academic fields, NUS will also emphasize nurturing
domestic human resources. For example, when strengthening fields rooted in regional uniqueness, nurturing
domestic human resources is valued. This attitude is also supported by CEO Beh’s statement that “...We are looking
for top human resources from around the world and welcome anyone who is attracted to Singapore, but, at thesame time, we also want to appoint local human resources... For example, when looking at research fields related
to regional history from an anthropological perspective, it is important to secure domestic experts. This is because
they live in this area and have better connections.”
Cui Xiao Wen, who oversees human resources policy at the NRF, emphasized the importance of finding a balance
between foreign and domestic human resources, “Singapore is already in the midst of a declining population andis unable to maintain enough researchers on its own, so we are focused on continuing to welcome talented people
from all over the world. However, at the same time, compared to our domestic human resource population, theseresearchers are more likely to migrate to other countries. Therefore, for overall stability, it is also important to

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nurture Singaporeans.”
As for nurturing and maintaining human resources and cooperation in research development, interviewees wereasked whether Singapore had taken any special measures from the perspective of economic security, but, comparedto the United States and Australia, there did not appear to be any specific measures that need consideration.
However, in some cutting-edge areas of science and technology international collaboration with public institutions
is regarded as more difficult than with private institutions, such as quantum science and technology.

Figure 2-2: CREATE Campus (left) where the NRF is located, and the National
University of Singapore university building (right)

Source: Photographed by the authors

2.3.5 Strengthening Industry-Academia Collaboration Both On and Off Campus
Singapore has a well-established startup ecosystem that encourages industry-academia collaboration. In particular,
since the establishment of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in 2002, there has beenstrong exit-oriented R&D and close industry-academia-government collaboration. This can be seen in the following
initiatives and facilities established by each research institute.
The CREATE Programme11 is one of the bases for NRF to promote international collaboration and industryacademia partnerships. NRF has attracted leading universities from around the world, including the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and the Technical University of Munich, to collaborate with NUS and NTU. The campus isalso home to more than 100 corporate12 researchers and government officials, who conduct joint research and otheractivities in close proximity to each other, thereby creating a system that facilitates collaboration.

11	Abbreviation for “Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise” CREATE’s activity base is located in University Town at
NUS. Through the program, foreign universities receive funds from NRF and then develop joint research programs with NUS or NTU. https://www.create.edu.sg/

12	As for the number of companies and their breakdown, both NUS and NTU explained that the companies “cover almost all major domestic andinternational companies.”

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According to a researcher who is also involved in joint research with companies at A*STAR, Singapore has richsupport systems for commercialization and industry-academia collaboration. “Many research institutes attached togovernment ministries and agencies are conscious of the issue of how to create valuable intellectual property andhow to connect the results to startups. One of the main objectives is to activate industry-academia collaboration as acatalyst for this.”
In recent years, further changes have been seen in the direction of industry-academia collaboration. According
to the A*STAR researcher, “Previously, the direction was to revitalize the economy by attracting large companies
and multinational companies to Singapore, but nowadays the emphasis is being placed on how startups can create
world-class industries by using technologies developed in Singapore.”

2.3.6 Other Related Matters: Nurturing and Maintaining Female Researchers
The previous sections showed measures that the Singaporean government and universities have taken to help
NUS and NTU develop into world-class universities. One of the factors for maintaining human resources is that
Singapore has a “high proportion of female researchers,” as is shown in Talent Report 2022. However, Singapore’s“high proportion of female researchers” is not necessarily due to special science and technology policies or tomeasures taken by the Singaporean government and universities. During the interviews in Singapore, the common
explanations that were given were that “there is no quota system (ratio quota) to maintain a large number of female
researchers” and that “the ratio of foreign nationals and women reached a certain level because outstanding humanresources were promoted based on their achievements and abilities.” The common explanation given for after the
recruitment phase is that “Singapore has a good environment, with childbirth support and childcare, so that female
researchers can smoothly carry out their research.” In other words, as indicated in the Talent Report 2022, the “highratio of female researchers” is not due to the contribution of science and technology policies, but rather to the social
environment that encourages women’s advancement in society and family education.
On the other hand, the need to nurture and maintain even more female researchers was pointed out, and efforts
to do so were observed at research sites. For example, when looking at the gender ratio by science and technology
field, there is a tendency of more women in the biomedical sciences and fewer in the mathematical and physicalsciences, which is not significantly different from other countries. In order to resolve the differences between
fields, the need for further efforts to expand the number of female researchers in fields where the number of female
researchers is low was emphasized by people at research sites.

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3 Background and Aims for Formulating a
National Strategy to Improve Scientific
Research Capabilities
Singapore’s science and technology promotion activities are driven by the five-year National Technology Plan,
which began in 1990. Interim evaluations provide an opportunity to review the progress and effectiveness ofinvestments, and in light of the rapid pace of change in science and technology, trajectories for the next five-year
period are adjusted to serve as a driving force for further development. The various measures described below showthat the NRF, which serves as the secretariat for formulating the five-year plan, works together with NUS and NTU
to formulate a direction for the plan.13
These measures “encourage as many Singaporeans as possible to pursue science and technology as an education
and as a career,” and, because Singapore is a small country with a limited working population, in many cases
research and development budgets are distributed fairly to foreign researchers, not just to Singaporean researchers,
as long as they are affiliated with a domestic research institute. This characteristic is clearly expressed in CEO
Beh’s statement that, “We complement policies that are friendly to Singapore with policies that are friendly to theglobal situation.”
Based on the results of interviews, the following will discuss the background and aims of how these concepts
are reflected in the various systems described in the research report, and how they are manifesting themselves in
improving Singapore’s scientific research capabilities.

3.1 The Functions and Roles of Funding in Nurturing and
Maintaining Research Human Resources
According to the NRF, much of the budget contributed through the five-year plans and other initiatives is aimed atstrengthening basic and foundational research capabilities, and is allocated to universities and A*STAR research
institutes from the Ministry of Education’s budget as the “Academic Research Fund” (corresponds to Figure 3-1,
“Core capabilities in universities and A*STAR research institutes”). In addition, with the aim of strengthening
human resource development to promote science, technology, and innovation, a substantial budget is also allocatedto “Talent Development.” In particular, various fellowships with abundant research funds are provided to enable
scientific and technological personnel to start research in their first year. The NRF Fellowship (Talent Report 2022,
section 3.2.1) is a typical example, which provides 2.5 to 3 million SGD over five years; and associate professor
Yvonne Gao is one of the fellows.
A*STAR also uses academic research funds to support its affiliated research institutes and companies to13	The Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC), which formulated RIE2025, is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes thepresidents of NUS and NTU from academia as committee members. https://www.nrf.gov.sg/about/governance/riec/

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accumulate a pool of outstanding researchers and to attract talent.
Furthermore, while global companies have established bases in Singapore, many domestic companies are
small- and medium-sized, with low research and development capabilities and difficulty in raising research anddevelopment funds on their own. As such, efforts are being made to promote research and development in thesecompanies and to strengthen their scientific and technological capabilities, primarily through the use of publicresearch funds.
The success of funding allocated to science and technology players can be seen in the steady increase in the shareof Singaporean academic papers among the world’s most cited academic papers. Looking at the Field Weighted
Citation Index,14 in 2000 Singapore was at 0.71, approx. 30% below the world average, but as of 2020 Singapore
was at 1.58, more than 50% above the world average, which confirms the high level of success that the NRF’s
promotion measures have had.15

Figure 3-1: RIE2025 budget allocation
Source: Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan (p. 12 of the original document)

3.2 Policy Coordination with Related Domestic Organizations
A*STAR establishes research institutes under its umbrella, sometimes jointly with related organizations, in linewith the national five-year plan and other science and technology policies, and universities also take coordinatedresponses based on national policies. NTU Vice President White, who also worked at A*STAR around the 2000s,
explained this situation by using the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry as an example. At the time, theSingapore Economic Development Board (EDB) provided incentives to attract foreign direct investment (FDI),
the NRF and A*STAR at the time established research institutes to support pharmaceutical companies, and14	

Field Weighted Citation Index is an indicator that measures a paper’s degree of citation compared to similar papers (same field, year of
publication, and document type). By smoothing out differences, it can better measure citations. See also: Elsevier, “Measuring an Articles
Impact,” Last updated on February 2, 2023.

15

Refer also to mentions in RIE2025. Page 41 of the provisional translation of the “Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 Plan.”

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NTU established new schools and faculties to teach pharmaceutical sciences so as to nurture human resources.
After clarifying the economic demand and as a result of creating the conditions for industry by strategicallyestablishing and attracting research and development institutions, human resources training institutions, and major
pharmaceutical companies to Singapore, in approximately 10 years the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry
rapidly increased its share of GDP from 0% to approximately 25%. In this way, clear goals, intensive input toachieve them, and their integration into the research and development phase make it possible to achieve large
results.

3.3 Maintaining Overseas Human Resources and Nurturing
Domestic Human Resources
The Returning Singaporean Scientists Scheme, which was launched by the NRF in 2013 based on RIE2015, beganwith the aim of not only sending outstanding domestic human resources to foreign countries, but also of securing
them as domestic human resources. As can be seen from the example of Aaron Thean, who returned from theUnited States as a member of the first phase of the program and is now the Deputy President of Academic Affairs at
NUS, many of the returning scientists have been appointed to important positions in the promotion of science andtechnology in Singapore.
As for the balance between the use of foreign and domestic human resources, as was mentioned in 2.3.4, it
is considered important not only to bring back outstanding human resources who have studied abroad, but also
for Singapore to be able to domestically nurture its own citizens through the country’s higher education system.
Excessive competition is not necessarily desirable from the perspective of providing fair educational opportunities,
but, if it is possible to attract outstanding domestic human resources to universities through appropriate competition,then domestic education can be done together with securing human resources from overseas and can be said to be
an important factor in maintaining Singapore’s future development.
As symbolized by the rapid progress of NUS and NTU, Kyota Inoue, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Japanin Singapore, acknowledged that “Singapore’s research and education have reached an extremely high level throughthe balanced development of domestic and international human resources and the implementation of painful
university reforms” and made the observation that “Singapore will most likely continue to do so in the future.”

3.4 Reliably Maintaining and Flexibly Utilizing Budgets
As mentioned above, Singapore’s five-year plans, including RIE2025, stipulate the total budget for the five years,
and the budget allocation is determined based on the items shown in Figure 3-1.
Because research and development and human resource development are typically planned over multiple years,
ensuring predictability is critical for steady and systemic implementation. What should be appreciated about
Singapore’s five-year plans is the fact that the budgets are reliably set aside without being reduced each year. This
makes it possible for research institutes and universities to implement medium- to long-term plans without fear ofbudget cuts.
Additionally, 15% of the total budget in the five-year plan is called “white space,” which is set aside as a program

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implementation budget for responding to new policy demands that arise during the plan period and for new research
opportunities. This allows the scientific community as a whole to secure a total budget and promote research anddevelopment in a fixed manner, while also providing a mechanism to flexibly respond to new situations, and thissystem is actually being put to use.

3.5 Future Prospects
To date, Singapore has rapidly expanded its scientific research capabilities in applied research fields such as
biomedicine and engineering, and has developed corresponding human resource development programs (such aswith Ministry of Health fellowships and Doctor of Engineering programs). In recent years, Singapore has also
focused on strengthening its advanced science and technology by inviting the world’s top researchers in fields suchas quantum science and nanotechnology. NRF CEO Beh expressed his vision for the future, saying, “The NRF
intends to focus not only on applied and developmental research, but also on the promotion of basic research,” andthat “the NRF will steadily train researchers for this purpose.”
Compared with the facts highlighted in 3.3, Singapore recognizes in its human resources policy the need tosteadily nurture its domestic human resources rather than solely relying on top foreign human resources.

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4 Perceptions on Nurturing and
Maintaining Human Resources from the
Perspective of Research Sites
Based on interviews with NTU professor Sato, NUS associate professor Eda, and NUS associate professor Gao anda researcher of A*STAR, this section provides an overview of the perceptions on Singapore’s development andmaintenance of human resources from the perspective of research sites.
Experience from the Perspective of Funding Recipients
Many researchers voiced the opinion that “The existence of a comprehensive start-up support system made it
possible for me to smoothly set up a research laboratory after transferring to Singapore.”
The authors also heard from current faculty members about their feelings on both the good and bad aspects of theharsh tenure-track system. Professor Hirotaka Sato at NTU said that, while he was studying in the United States
as a postdoctoral researcher, his research topic caught the attention of Singapore, and he was offered a job. He
said, “Even after being hired as a researcher, there is a strong possibility that, even if you achieve a certain levelof research results, you will be fired after a few years if you cannot continue to do so until you obtain tenure. Thisis probably because the university starts by recruiting many people, not only myself, who are from completely
unconnected situations. The harsh competition brought about by the strictness puts a lot of pressure on the mind
and body, which, in a sense, can be considered a disadvantage. On the other hand, I think that being able to run alaboratory with wide discretion at a young age and being able to autonomously conduct research activities is anadvantage that Japan does not have.”
Goki Eda, who is currently conducting research at the NUS Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, earned adoctorate in physics in the United States and was working as a postdoctoral fellow, stated “I chose Singapore as
my research base because I was attracted to an environment where I could conduct research alongside world-classscientists such as prof. Antonio H. Castro Neto.” In 2014 the Centre sought to further strengthen its capabilities byrecruiting Konstantin Novoselov, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on graphene, as a special
professor from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom.16 Associate professor Eda said that a “humanresources chain” is occurring in which top talent attracts talented, next-generation human resources, who then inturn invite other top human resources.
Experience of Researching Directly Under NRF’s Policy Direction
As mentioned in 2.3.3, government research institutes such as A*STAR conduct research activities that are directly
linked to national plans. Because this determines the selection of priority research themes and the allocation offunds, it is necessary to constantly monitor national trends. A researcher that the authors spoke to, who has been16	Refer to the NUS press release. https://news.nus.edu.sg/nobel-laureate-konstantin-novoselov-joins-nus-/

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working at A*STAR and formulating his own research field while referring to the national plan, said “In research
fields that are directly influenced by national policy, new research institutes tend to be established or researchfunctions are strengthened relatively soon after a strategy is announced, and the time span is short.” In light of thebudgetary planning and flexibility pointed out in 3.4, this testimony is considered to be in line with the reality in
Singapore.
Opinions from the Perspective of a Foreigner (Japanese national living in Singapore)
Conducting research activities in a foreign country often involves difficulties in social life. However, researchers
working in Singapore generally feel that “The meritocracy is so pervasive that if you have unique ideas andsufficient achievements, then you will be evaluated fairly and will be able to find a place for your research
activities.” As mentioned in 3.1, it is necessary for researchers to survive in a highly competitive environment
in order to obtain sufficient opportunities, but it is also clear that this is a perfect environment for science andtechnology human resources who are willing to put their abilities to the test and receive high evaluations.
Insights from a Woman’s Perspective
A researcher affiliated with A*STAR felt that “I think there are overwhelmingly situations in which it is easy forcolleagues to take time off due to family matters, including children. In addition to taking maternity leave, staff
typically take time off without hesitation whenever an unexpected thing happens, such as when their child suddenly
becomes ill. As such, they can continue to work without being forced to give up on their career.”On the other hand, associate professor Gao, who was involved in this report, pointed out the lack of role models.
She stated that it is essential for individuals in an organization, regardless of gender, to work together to address theissue of career paths for female researchers.
Associate professor Gao, who majored in physics and quantum science in both the United Kingdom and theUnited States, returned to Singapore with an NRF Fellowship17 and began her research activities. Her doctoral
thesis, “Multi-cavity Operations in Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics,”18 deals with a method to realize quantum
computing, and she has a compact experimental facility at the NUS Centre for Quantum Technologies, with which
she is affiliated. In parallel with these cutting-edge research activities, she is also developing social activities toconvey the fun of science to elementary and secondary education students. She highlighted that, “The proportion of
female researchers in mathematics and physics in Singapore is not lower than that in Japan, but it is lower than thatin other fields such as the biomedical sciences and the humanities and social sciences, and there is a lack of rolemodels in society. I think it is important to teach mathematics and physics in the educational curriculum for young
people, but there are not many outreach activities that focus on elementary and secondary education students.”
Additionally, researchers enter their doctoral program and pursue a doctoral degree when in their late 20s, which,biologically, is the time when they begin to think about pregnancy and childbirth. Her colleagues and friends also
often faced a choice between “going on with scientific research or giving birth and raising children,” forcing themto sacrifice one aspect of their life for the other.
17	

The NRF Fellowship is a system that provides support for research activities in Singapore to young researchers (including foreign researchers)
who have obtained a doctoral degree (refer to page 21 of Report RR-02).

18

Refer to the abstract of her dissertation at Yale University. https://physics.yale.edu/people/yvonne-gao

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She continued, “When discussing career paths for female researchers, it is often women who take the initiative.
Coupled with this situation, people tend to say that ‘women’s problems should be solved by women.’ However, in
reality, major changes will not be possible unless men, who make up the majority of the science and technology
labor market, participate together and help organize things. This is a difficult concept for them to buy into, but I
think we should continue our efforts by taking a variety of approaches.”
Problems with Japanese Universities Compared to Singaporean Universities
In Singapore, the number of faculty members who graduated from Singaporean universities is low, and foreign
nationals account for around half of the faculty members, which creates a situation in which diverse humanresources engage in friendly competition. In contrast, according to professor Sato, major Japanese universities
with science and technology departments typically have many faculty members who graduated from Japanese
universities, and there are very few foreign faculty members. This is a negative factor in forming networks withoverseas countries and conducting creative research, and it can be said that the situation results in a loss of diversity
in human resources. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to respond based on the example of Singapore, but thisis a personnel issue that concerns many active faculty members, and it is presumed that major conflicts will need to
be overcome.

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5 Conclusion
As a summary of this report, the report items and results are summarized below from the perspective of nurturingand maintaining human resources.

5.1 Strengthening Nurturing and Maintenance of Human
Resources through University Reform
In Singapore, the government and universities came together in the late 1990s and set a clear goal to (1) “develop
from teaching universities to world-class research universities,” and, in order to be able to carry out the independent
reforms necessary to achieve the goals, the major universities that were being transitioned became autonomous
universities. In line with the goal setting for (1), Singapore’s world-class research universities were formed throughthe following measures that were taken by the government and universities in cooperation with each other.
(2) Implementing major university reforms in terms of appointment and evaluation methods for human resourcesin order to shift from being education-centered to being research-centered(3) S teady and significant increases in university research funds by the government(4) S trategic research initiatives by establishing key science and technology fields for the country and universities(5) P romoting international collaborations by acquiring outstanding foreign human resources and domestic
collaborations by nurturing domestic human resources(6) S trengthening industry-academia collaboration, both on and off campus
Of the above items, (3) largely depends on environmental factors outside of academia. On the other hand, each
item other than (3) was independently addressed by each university. In particular, the university reforms in (2)were accompanied by significant pain and conflicts as faculty members were replaced with a shift from educationoriented personnel evaluations to research-oriented personnel evaluations. By carrying out these initiatives, theuniversities were able to invite many outstanding researchers from around the world, and, in 2020, Singapore
as a whole was able to achieve a foreign researcher ratio of 30%, a high proportion that is unparalleled in any
other country. The favorable treatment and attractive research environment commensurate with high ability andperformance are supported by the testimonies of foreign researchers (Japanese researchers). There is no doubtthat the concentration of such international and talented researchers has strengthened the research capabilities ofSingapore’s universities, leading to their top positions in the Asia-Pacific region in university rankings.

5.2 The Importance of Nurturing Domestic Human Resources
In interviews, both the government (NRF) and the universities (NUS and NTU) explained that they strongly
recognize the importance of nurturing domestic human resources. Although there is a firm recognition that
Singapore’s scientific and technological innovation and the rapid development of its universities would not havebeen possible without the contributions of foreign researchers, there is a common understanding that excessive

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dependence on foreign researchers for domestic research and development is not good for Singapore to maintainstable, independent, and sustainable research and development capabilities over the long term, nor is it good for thepractical application of research and development results.
Based on this idea, Singapore has implemented preferential treatment for the development of its own citizens bylimiting the number of international undergraduate students to a certain percentage (15%).
On the other hand, graduate students, faculty members at universities and research institutes, and researchers are
hired meritocratically, based on the idea of non-discrimination between Singaporean citizens and foreign nationals.
Furthermore, even after an individual has been hired as a faculty member or researcher, researcher support from thegovernment and universities is essentially based on the idea of non-discrimination between Singaporean citizens
and foreign nationals.
In this way, academic opportunities up to the undergraduate level are preferentially given to Singaporean citizens
in order to nurture domestic human resources, while recruitment of faculty members and researchers for graduate
schools, universities, and research institutes, as well as subsequent research support for them, is based on eachindividual’s abilities. This seems to be an attempt to create a fair and competitive research environment while
promoting a balanced approach to acquiring outstanding foreign human resources and nurturing domestic humanresources.

5.3 Suggestions for Japan
Table 5-1: Comparison of world university ranking scores for research universities in Singapore and JapanQS World University Rankings
NUS

NTU

Tokyo
University

Kyoto
University

TohokuUniversity

Ranking

8

26

39

46

113

Overall

92.7

84.5

84.3

76.3

58

Academic reputation

99.4

91

100

98.7

72.4

Employers reputation

88.6

67.1

99.8

99.1

84.2

Faculty student ratio

76.5

77.6

90.4

94.7

98.5

Citations per faculty

93.2

94.4

70

49.3

29.6

Intl. faculty ratio

100

100

10.3

14.9

14.2

Intl. students ratio

81.9

80.2

29.2

20.8

13.8

Intl. research network

76.3

66.1

70

57.3

27.6

Employment outcomes

100

68.4

99.8

53.2

17.2

Sustainability *new

88.1

78.2

99.7

88.4

74.8

University Name

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THE World University Rankings (as of Table 3-1, continued)
NUS

NTU

Tokyo
University

Kyoto
University

TohokuUniversity

Ranking

19

32

29

55

130

Overall

90

82.3

83.1

75

63.8

Teaching

78.8

66.2

93.9

85.4

67.8

Research env.

94

80.9

94.2

84.3

66.4

Research quality

95.4

94.5

67.8

60

53.8

Industry

100

99.7

100

100

99.9

International outlook

91.1

93.3

49.7

45.7

58.5

University Name

Created by the authors from the 2024 edition of QS and THE university rankings.
QS s Sustainability category was newly established from this year s rankings.

In Japan, the world rankings for major domestic universities have been seen considerable declines over the longterm, despite yearly fluctuations in both QS and THE rankings. Table 5-1 compares three Japanese research
universities (the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Tohoku University) with NUS and NTU, andshows which items they received poor evaluations for in the QS and THE rankings for 2024. In the QS rankings,“Citations per Faculty” is slightly lower than the overall evaluation, while “International Faculty Ratio” and“International Students Ratio” are significantly lower. Similarly, in the THE rankings, “Research quality” and“International Outlook” are lower than the overall evaluations. Considering that internationally co-authored papers
generally tend to have more citations, it is clear that the weak points for Japanese universities are matters related
to internationalization, such as the international faculty ratio and the international students ratio. In particular,
Japanese universities’ international faculty ratio is considerably lower than that of other major universities.
Japanese universities have long set their own goals as appropriate for promoting internationalization, such as
the international faculty ratio, international student ratio, and the establishment of undergraduate degree courses
taught in English, and for many years the Japanese government has also established programs to support theinternationalization of various universities and continues to provide such support, but it seems clear that Japanese
universities are lagging behind in internationalization when compared to the world’s major universities.
Of course, rising in the world university rankings is not the ultimate goal for universities; under the current
system, Japan has produced many outstanding researchers, and, since the beginning of this century, Japan has
achieved remarkable results and is second only to the United States in the number of Nobel Prize winners (inthe natural sciences). However, since the beginning of this century, Japan’s global ranking in the top 1% and
top 10% of highly cited papers has significantly fallen, and it is said that Japan’s number of Nobel Prize winners
will also slowly decline in the future. As pointed out by the five researchers interviewed in this report, in order toovercome this situation, it is now more necessary than ever for Japanese universities to take measures to raise theirinternationalization indicators, such as increasing the proportion of foreign faculty members and faculty members
who have obtained a degree abroad or who have gained research experience abroad. To this end, it is consideredessential that Japanese universities take drastic measures that have never before been seen at domestic universities,
such as “large-scale compulsory quotas for inviting foreign researchers.” The case of Singapore, which, asmentioned above, boldly carried out painful university reforms and achieved positive results, will be a highly
instructive example for Japanese universities to follow in taking such measures.

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Contributors
Itaru Saito, Fellow of the Asia and Pacific Research Center, JST
Shin-ichi Kuroki, Deputy Director-General of the Asia and Pacific Research Center, JST

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Research on the Nurturing and Maintaining of STI talentin Singapore (Addendum):
The Driving Forces behind the Progress at NUS and NTU
Published February 2024
ISBN 978-4-88890-897-9

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