Shaping curious, critical minds: Tan Chorh Chuan

TODAY, 12 Feb 2013

Professor Tan Chorh Chuan has dived with whales in Tonga, trekked in Bhutan, explored the Amazon and more.

Whether it was witnessing a whale up close and seeing parallels in it to human behaviour; discovering a successful IT enterprise in the mountains of Bhutan; or committing fascinating landscapes to paper, each experience has been illuminating in its ability to teach.

As a doctor turned academic and administrator, Prof Tan, 53, is keen to inject this sense of curiosity into the education process, and to inculcate in future leaders a desire to reach beyond academia and to engage with the real world.

The President of the National University of Singapore (NUS) speaks to Kannan Chandran.

What role does an institute of higher learning play in instilling social values and responsibility?

I believe that institutions of higher learning have an important role in helping young people develop appropriate social values. This is particularly so in our highly interconnected and globalised world.

The global financial crisis, widening incomes and social inequalities have raised questions as to whether business and work practices based purely on profit motives are in the best long-term interests of society. Our ever-growing consumption of natural resources and the consequent negative impact on sustainability and climate change are growing sources of concern.

My own sense is that these issues are important particularly to many of the young, including those in Singapore.

How can educators teach or reinforce in young people fundamental principles like fair play, honesty and transparency?

Within our academic culture, intellectual honesty and integrity are critically important and strongly emphasised. In addition, while we nurture our students to be critical thinkers, this should be associated with openness and respect. These are also important differentiators for graduates from Singapore.

Experiential learning helps develop facets of personality and character important for success in the long-term. I’m strongly focused on the need for these experiences — there’s no way you can learn this in the classroom ...

A lot of the work done in NUS is to provide a wide range of opportunities for students to have that experiential learning — a trip overseas, engagement in sports, community or leadership activities ...

How do you inculcate a sense of curiosity in students and prepare them for the real world?

This is very important and something that needs work on. One way we stimulate curiosity is to start students working on projects early.

About 10 years ago we introduced problem-based learning. When you enter medical school, for instance, you are asked to work in groups on a series of clinical problems. The whole idea is to develop a motivation to understand how and why things are interlinked.

When you read about biochemistry and physiology with the clinical problem you have to work on, you’ll be stimulated to read more actively and to understand the value of what you’re reading. I find broad-based learning a very powerful stimulus for curiosity and problem framing.

Four years ago, we started a new design-centric programme for engineering students. We have a couple of hundred students in the advanced piloting phase for this who, instead of studying all the engineering concepts, pick a project and work together in groups for many semesters, using that project to learn engineering concepts.

People come to university with their patterns of thinking quite formed. What we can do is challenge them. Part of learning how to cope is to be immersed in a diverse environment. When students mix with individuals from less privileged backgrounds who have to struggle to do things, it helps them become more aware of the realities of the world and reshape some of their thinking.

Regardless of how we feel about the ability of the current generation to cope, we really have to get them to go out and do things; to get involved in their own community or in other countries. There is no substitute.

Successful role models here are usually defined by the amount of money they make. Is there a need to address this thinking?

Oh yes, and we try to do so in different ways. When I was Provost we started a new set of awards. We’ve always had sports awards and academic awards, but we don’t have awards for students who do things for the community. We started a student achievement award.

More recently, we have arts awards. We are the first university here to give sports scholarships. Within the university we have artists, diplomats, writers and sportsmen. We hope we can create an environment where more people will see that there’s more to life than material things.

Is it working? I don’t really know. These are long-term things we are embarking upon. We are just a small sector of Singapore society. We can’t shift the centre of gravity of society, but we can create specific ways in which we try to diversify the way students perceive success.

There is a general impression that students in the Singapore education system are spoon-fed and reserved. What do you think?

I don’t quite agree that our students are so constrained in their outlook and potential. I think the younger generation is sophisticated, and given the right encouragement and setting, will take on challenges. I am always pleasantly surprised by students doing things of their own initiative.

At the base level, you must have the right programme platforms. As a medical student, I was one of a very few who went for overseas stints.

There was no system in place and I had to arrange everything myself. Today, we have many exchange programmes. About 60 per cent of our students go overseas, and 30 per cent of the undergraduates go for six months or more.

Students must be motivated to do so, and not just think of scoring higher grades. In Singapore, students see getting the best possible grade as the single most important thing for them to achieve. In some parts of the university, we’ve adopted a pass or fail system where in the first year your grades don’t count for your final aggregate score.

The idea is if students didn’t always feel that everything they did was associated with a grade, hopefully they would pick things that would challenge them, and pursue them out of interest.

The longer-term goal is to encourage a culture where students feel it is part of their education that they involve themselves in things beyond the classroom.

We used to admit students completely on grades. Several years ago, the Ministry of Education introduced discretionary admission. Up to 10 per cent of students could be admitted on qualities beyond academic grades, such as community work or overcoming adversity. It is a strong signal and a good way to recognise achievement outside of academia ...

You’ve been President of NUS since 2008. During your tenure, how have you come to appreciate the role of education?

It’s been a process of further sharpening my understanding of what’s fundamental for graduates of the future. We need people who have critical minds.

Some people argue that because information is so readily available you don’t need to teach people facts. I don’t think that’s true.

You need to have a reasonably strong foundation of knowledge and critical thinking to interpret new knowledge, make sense of data and identify the important questions. It goes beyond mechanical analysis. You also need imagination and creativity to think about problems in a different way.

One thing I’ve been increasingly convinced about is the importance of intellectual breadth. There are two reasons why. First, many of the problems we face in our work and lives are complex. They cut across different disciplines and domains of knowledge. If you don’t have a broad intellectual base, you will not be able to see the potential cross-disciplinary implications.

Second, where we expected to do three or four jobs in a lifetime, the average graduate today might do 10 or 12. These jobs can cross many different sectors so you must have the intellectual base from which you can retool yourself more easily to do different types of work.

What was your own major learning experience?

For me, it was the SARS situation. It taught me how to lead in a crisis. Mental and physical resilience are very important, and it highlighted how by being “still at the core” (calm) you can be effective in a crisis.

The second thing is about marshalling teams and working with them to maximum effect, as opposed to trying to do things yourself.

The third aspect is the critical importance of identifying the most important issues out of 10 or 20 things swirling around.

It is only by exposing yourself to uncertain situations and anxious moments that you learn how to control your mind and deal with things as they come.

Travelling has been an important part of building this stillness. Exercising is very important, too. The more stressful your existence, the more you should exercise, even if there is no time for it.

These are excerpts of an interview that is published in the upcoming edition of SINGAPORE magazine published by the Singapore International Foundation.