A new medical school in Singapore is to be set up by Imperial College London so that an elite British university could be found in Asia. This medical school will give places to more than 750 students, most of them will be local residents.
Professor Martyn Partridge, who holds Imperial's chair in respiratory medicine, will be senior vice dean of the new school. The medical school, which will be run by Imperial and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, is expected to implement an "innovative" course with electronic learning and simulations of patient care. He said that the school will develop "generous research funding" available in the Asian city-state.
The financial benefit for the school will come from sharing expertise while the college hopes that the partnership with Singapore's government with will lead to long-term benefits. "I don't think anybody knows the exact bottom line, but I can categorically say that Imperial is not going to do this in any way at a loss," said Professor Partridge.
British universities benefit significantly from international students and more and more students are willing to study at this new medical school. The number of students from abroad who want to have be applied to medical colleges at UK this year havse increased from 55,000 last year to over 71,000 this February. The cost for study at Imperial for a foreign student this autumn is £26,250 a year. In 2013 the new medical school will admit its first 50 students. This college is expected to establish student exchanges between the UK and Singapore.
Sir Keith O'Nions, rector of Imperial College London, noted in his essay: "We are extremely proud to be working with Singapore, a country we have long admired for its support and application of world-class science, engineering and medicine".
