Nanyang University

In 1953, a Chinese-medium university, Nanyang University, was incorporated as a company under the Companies Ordinance No 49 of 1940, with popular support for the University coming from the rich and poor alike. Nanyang University began to function in 1956 on a 500-acre site in Jurong donated by a clan association, the Hokkien Huay Kuan. The Nanyang University Ordinance passed in March 1959 gave statuory basis to the University as an educational institution, subsequent development and reorganization leading to the full recognition of its degrees by the Government of Singapore in 1968.

Common Admissions/Joint Campus

In 1974, a common admissions board was established by the University of Singapore and Nanyang University to streamline the admission of students to first degree courses at the two Universities. To assist Nanyang University in its objective of becoming an English-medium institution and to promote closer ties between the two Universities, a Joint Campus was set up in July 1978 at the former main campus of the University of Singapore at Bukit Timah. Under the Joint Campus scheme, students of Arts, Social Sciences, Science, Accountancy and Business Administration of the two Universities studied the same courses taught by the same teachers and were examined by the same internal and external examiners. A Joint Senate, with Senate members of both Universities, dealt with academic details of Joint Campus courses.

Inauguration of the National University of Singapore

The question of whether Singapore should have one or two universities arose soon after, the discussion gradually gathering momentum. The Singapore Government invited Sir Frederick Dainton, Chancellor of Sheffield University, to Singapore in October 1979 to probe the question and the Dainton Report, submitted in December, recommended that Singapore should have a single, strong university at Kent Ridge. After much public debate, the Government's decision in April 1980 to merge the University of Singapore and Nanyang University to form the National University of Singapore (NUS) was received with overwhelming support. NUS began operationally on 7 July 1980 but formally came into existence on 8 August, the eve of National Day.

Nanyang University and Nanyang Technological University are two different universities. The latter is the successor of the Nanyang Institute of Technology which was established on the old campus of Nanyang University in around 1981, shortly after Nanayang University was merged with the University of Singapore to form the National University of Singapore. In around 1991, the Nanyang Institute of Technology was upgraded and renamed as Nanyang Technological University.