A*STAR, the Singaporean government Agency for Science, Technology and Research, is set to begin a new collaboration with the University of Oxford in 2009.

The partnership will enable students to spend two years in doctoral study at an A*STAR research institute and two years at Oxford.

They will be jointly supervised by researchers at A*STAR and at Oxford, supported by a full scholarship.

This is just the latest development in the University's growing links with Singapore.

According to published figures, there are 108 Singaporeans currently studying at Oxford, including 60 full-time undergraduates and 42 postgraduate students.

To highlight this growing partnership, the Chancellor of Oxford University, Lord Patten of Barnes (ex-Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten), will be in town to address 200 Singaporean Oxford alumni. It will be held on Oct 30 in a special reception and dinner hosted by Lord Patten at the Raffles Hotel Singapore.

There, he will also outline the University's ambitious fundraising campaign, which seeks to provide funding and support for students and academics from all over the world.

The fundraising campaign, launched in May 2008 with a target of around £1.25 billion (S$3 billion), aims to ensure Oxford can attract the most gifted students from Singapore and other countries, irrespective of their financial situation.

More than a third of students at Oxford University are citizens of countries other than the United Kingdom, many who could not afford to be at Oxford without scholarship support.

Part of the University's aims is to ensure the overwhelming majority of doctoral and master's students are fully funded for the duration of their course, and to increase the diversity of Oxford's student body, both by removing any financial barriers and by funding access programmes.

Facts:

• With 903 Oxonians, Singapore has the 8th largest concentration of Oxford alumni in the world
• Singapore is home to three of the top five feeder schools for international students to Oxford - Raffles Junior College, Hwa Chong Junior College, and Victoria Junior College
• Nine members of Oxford's academic staff are from Singapore, including three teaching and research staff and six research staff.