NANYANG Technological University (NTU) wants to follow in the footsteps of one of the world's biggest medical schools.

Its Provost Bertil Andersson told The Straits Times yesterday it was hoping to ally with the Imperial College London in the setting up of Singapore's third medical school.

He described the potential collaboration as a 'logical step', given Imperial's reputation as a world leader in the multidisciplinary fields of engineering and medicine.

'Before starting its medical faculty in 1985, Imperial was the biggest engineering university in the UK...today, it is one of biggest medical schools in the world.

'We aim to follow the same path,' he said.

He added that bioengineering, which is an interface between the disciplines of medicine and engineering, will be a 'key research area' for the new medical school and where NTU can make a 'major difference'.

'NTU could do something on an international scale and put Singapore on the medical map.'

Major advances in bioengineering include tissue engineering, which involves the repair and replacement of tissues such as cartilage, bone and blood vessels.

In an interview with The Straits Times earlier this year, Professor Roy Anderson, rector of Imperial College London confirmed his university was keen to lend its expertise in establishing another medical school here.

'I hope the favoured site will be NTU,' he said then.

The new school will adopt teaching methods that are different from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Prof Andersson said.

'The doctor of tomorrow must learn skills that a doctor of today does not know.'

He highlighted the example of material science, where future doctors will need to know about advanced treatment methods, such as wire mesh used to make stents for the heart, and how they adapt to the body's mechanism.

A medical school will be one of three graduate schools to be set up at NTU, the others being in the areas of digital media and environmental sustainability.The schools will also adopt a fresh approach to postgraduate studies, Prof Andersson said.

'The society of tomorrow needs to be much more flexible. Instead of the traditional way of just speaking to a research supervisor, students will be given the chance to interact with other students across a range of disciplines.'

AMRESH GUNASINGHAM

This article was first published in The Straits Times.