By Howard Hunter

WE SHOULD develop a true liberal education curriculum. We should begin by thinking about the skills we want our students to develop. I count among these:

Critical communication skills

There should be strict training in language and clarity of expression.

Basic understanding of core mathematical concepts

Our students need to understand statistics and probability for analytical purposes and have a sufficient understanding of mathematics to view it as a useful tool.

Knowledge of the fundamentals of natural science

Our graduates will be asked to address problems relating to the environment, genetics and other matters with roots in basic science.

Basic religious literacy

We need not provide theological training, but we should provide students with an understanding of the core concepts of the major religions.

History

Our graduates need to know the history of the region, and also have an understanding of the methodology of history.

Social science methodology

This is necessary for the determination of facts, trends, attitudes and for the testing of ideas and policies.

An understanding of the creative arts

Truth can be discovered or understood in myriad ways, and the language of the visual and performing arts can tell much.

What we are preparing our students to do is to solve problems that we do not know about. We should share our own acquired knowledge as best we can while also preparing them to be constant learners and seekers of new truths.

It is easy to go back a century and marvel at what people did not know or expect. But none of us will be around in 2108, barring some medical miracle. Let's be reasonable and go back roughly 40 years. Some things are remarkably consistent if we look back at 1968:

- Religious animosities plagued the Middle East.

- Former African colonies were struggling to develop their economies.

- Tensions within and among the nations of Asia were high.

- Inflation was a worrying issue and markets were jittery.

- The United States was involved in an unpopular war a long way from home.

But there also have been remarkable and often unanticipated changes:

- Religious tensions have spread well beyond the Middle East.

- The Soviet Union has collapsed.

- China emerged from the Cultural Revolution to transform itself into an economic powerhouse.

- India began to experience its own economic revolution.

- The Common Market of the six largest European economies grew into the European Union.

- South Africa ended apartheid.

- Terrorism became an international problem.

- New diseases appeared - Aids, drug-resistant tuberculosis, Sars, bird flu - but medicine also developed many new and remarkable cures leading to longer life expectancies.

- Human-induced global warming became a reality.

- Oil as the primary source of energy became a problem.

- Communications, data storage and data retrieval changed incredibly.

We can reasonably expect our students to confront a world that will be radically different from the one we inhabit today. Our success in educating them will be measured not by what they accomplish in 2008 or 2010, but by how they cope with and respond to the changes and problems they will face in 2030 or 2040.

In summary, we need a comprehensive review of the core undergraduate curriculum to create a real liberal education for all our students.

Harvard University's Edward O. Wilson has written of the importance of interdisciplinary education and thinking:

'Most of the issues that vex humanity daily...cannot be solved without integrating knowledge from the natural sciences with that of social science and the humanities. Only fluency across the boundaries will provide a clear view of the world as it really is...'

Interdisciplinary work is possible. We must work to prevent the creation of insular groups bound together by dogmatic adherence to narrow disciplinarity.

Knowledge creation has not always been at the core of universities. To be sure, universities have conducted research for at least a millennium. But the research university as we know it today is a recent creation dating from the late 19th century. Indeed, the real growth of research at universities can be measured from the end of World War II.

In those places where universities have engaged in research of the first order, it is clear that the surrounding communities - both locally and nationally - have prospered.

In the Singapore context the three existing universities complement one another nicely in their areas of strongest research focus - biosciences, engineering, and management/social sciences. Building the research strengths of each one can provide a fertile field for Singapore to become one of the most significant locations for high-level research and development in the world.

Professor Hunter is president of the Singapore Management University. The above is an excerpt of his annual 'State of the University Address', delivered last week.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Aug 30, 2008.