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London has plenty of the world's finest universities – so is it any wonder that we’re exporting one of them to the other side of the planet? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening, as one of our top-ranking educational establishments is opening an outpost in Singapore.
Being one of the best in the UK doesn’t seem to be enough for Imperial College London. The uni is collabing with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore for a whopping $20 million research centre called the Imperial Global: Singapore. The centre will be used to carry out research around stuff like health cybersecurity and AI for healthcare, as well as work closely with industry and government partners.
Both staff and PhD students at Imperial will get the chance to jet off to Singapore and work in state-of-the-art laboratories. Imperial also plans to expand its other activities in southeast Asia, with more student placements and international programs.
This isn’t the first time Imperial has dipped its toes in Singapore. The uni and NTU previously came together in 2010 to establish the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) and the virtual NTU-Imperial Health, Sustainability and Technology Hub in 2022.
And Imperial certainly isn’t the only London uni to open up abroad. Middlesex University went global as early as 2005 when it set up a branch in Dubai, while University of West London (UWL) established its offshoot in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE IN 2017.
Imperial’s Singapore site will primarily host a five-year program called IN-CYPHER, which aims to carry out research on subjects such as pandemic preparedness, climate, artificial intelligence and the transition to net zero.
Professor Hugh Brady, president of Imperial, said: ‘We are immensely excited to further boost Imperial’s contribution to Singapore’s research and innovation ecosystem.
‘The initial focus of Imperial Global: Singapore on medical device and health data security could not be more timely given the importance of this area to improving patient outcomes and health system integrity.’
Imperial Global: Singapore was launched on January 8.
Imperial College London has been in the spotlight quite a lot recently – and for lots of good reasons. It was named the third-best university in the UK by the Sunday Times Good University Guide, and named the sixth-best in the entire world by QS.
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