Keppel enhances collaboration with NUS with new Professorship in Sustainability Solutions and enhanced engineering bursary

December 2023

(Seated, from left) Professor Teo Kie Leong, Acting Dean, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS), and Mr Ho Tong Yen, CEO of Keppel Care Foundation at the signing ceremony of the donation agreement on 5 December 2023. (Standing, from left) Professor Tan Eng Chye, President of NUS and Mr Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel, witnessed the signing of the agreement.

Keppel Corporation Limited (Keppel) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) signed collaboration agreements today to establish a new Keppel Professorship in Sustainability Solutions at the NUS College of Design and Engineering (CDE), and enhance the Keppel Bursary for Engineering for CDE undergraduates. 

In line with Keppel’s transformation to be a global asset manager and operator focused on creating solutions for a sustainable future, the new professorship will fund sustainability-related research, including public outreach campaigns and lectures related to sustainability. It replaces the former Keppel Chair Professorship, which sought to enhance Singapore's competitiveness in the Ocean, Marine and Offshore industry. 

The Keppel Professorship in Sustainability Solutions is supported by a gift of S$1.4 million made by Keppel Care Foundation in 2012. Keppel will also contribute an additional S$170,000 over the next five years to support activities related to the professorship, including hosting lectures by world-renowned experts to facilitate knowledge discovery and raise public awareness about issues such as climate change and reducing carbon footprint. NUS is currently in the process of appointing the first Keppel Professor in Sustainability Solutions. 

Separately, Keppel will also gift S$500,000 to NUS to enhance the Keppel Bursary for Engineering in line with the rising cost of living. Established in 2014, the Bursary is awarded to financially disadvantaged undergraduate students from NUS pursuing Engineering. The top-up will not only enable NUS to support more students each year, it will also increase the quantum of each award, which will render more substantive financial assistance to the recipients. The donation will raise the current value of each bursary from S$3,000 to S$5,000 per annum and increase the number of awarded bursaries from an average of 16 per academic year to 18 per academic year. Since the inception of the Keppel Bursary for Engineering, a total of 126 bursaries have been awarded. 

Mr Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel, said, “We are pleased to deepen our partnership with NUS to support sustainability-related research and education, and to enhance our support for deserving students from lower income families. The new Keppel Professorship in Sustainability Solutions reflects Keppel’s purpose and focus on sustainability, while the top-up to the Keppel Bursary for Engineering will enhance accessibility to education for engineering students, amidst rising costs of living.” 

NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye, said, “This renewed partnership between NUS and Keppel is testament to our strong commitment towards shaping a more sustainable future by advancing sustainability education and research as well as ensuring that undergraduates from all financial backgrounds can fully participate and benefit from the transformative education that NUS offers.”