SUTD Announces New Donations, New Patron and inaugural Benefactors Fellows Award at 10th Anniversary Fundraising Dinner

23 Oct 2019

Two New Endowed Gifts from Quantedge Foundation and Expand Construction
Launch of New Global Excellence Scholarship

Celebrating its 10^th Anniversary this year, the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) organised a Gala Dinner to thank its donors for their generous support over the past 10 years, as well as to raise funds to fulfil the University’s commitment to provide quality and affordable education. Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Heng Swee Keat was the Guest-of-Honour at this event.

Guest-of-Honour, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat, speaking at the Gala Dinner, which took place at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore.

In particular, two significant new gifts would allow SUTD to provide greater support for more students from less privileged backgrounds, ensuring that higher education remains accessible and affordable.

The first was an endowed gift of $3 million by the Quantedge Foundation (Singapore) Ltd to establish the Quantedge Foundation-SUTD Education Opportunity Grant. The contribution provides important resources to seed-fund SUTD’s guarantee to provide tuition-free undergraduate education to eligible Singaporean students with demonstrated financial need. This ensures that students from low income families are not deterred from pursuing their study goals at SUTD due to financial difficulties (refer to Annex A below).

The Quantedge Foundation-SUTD Education Opportunity Grant is established with the generous gift by Quantedge Foundation (Singapore) Ltd.

Quantedge Foundation Board Member Suhaimi Zainul-Abidin said, “Social mobility is a key priority for our foundation. Every student from an economically disadvantaged background who qualifies, by merit, to attend university, but has to give that up due to uncertainty in securing sufficient financial aid, adds to social stratification in our society. We are excited to support SUTD’s commitment to guarantee full financial aid for all Singaporean students with demonstrated financial need. This SUTD guarantee assures the availability of full financial aid to Singaporeans across a broad range of programmes offered by SUTD. We hope to see all other autonomous universities in Singapore stepping up to ensure the availability of truly need-blind university education to Singaporeans in the future.”

The second gift was made by Expand Construction Pte Ltd, which endowed $1 million for the Von Lee Yong Miang-SUTD Bursary Award to relieve the burden of fees from SUTD students who are in need of financial assistance (refer to Annex B below).

Expand Construction Pte Ltd made a gift for the Von Lee Yong Miang-SUTD Bursary Award.

Mr Von Lee, Chairman and Founder of Expand Construction, said, “Expand Construction is proud to be given many opportunities to build iconic structures in the past 20 years including the Lion Grove Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay. We hope the Bursary, our contribution back to the society, will empower needy students to continue to build their dreams. Together we can enhance our National Build Capabilities in the years ahead.”

SUTD also announced a new scholarship for those who wish to pursue more than a Bachelor’s degree - the SUTD Global Excellence Scholarship. This prestigious scholarship provides a grant of up to S$15,000 to cover tuition fees for a postgraduate degree programme, on top of covering the full undergraduate tuition fees of the student, overseas exchange opportunity, and living allowances. The postgraduate degree can be studied in SUTD within three years of graduating from SUTD (refer to Annex C below).

The event also marked Mr Sam Goi, Executive Chairman of Tee Yih Jia Group, taking over the mantle of SUTD’s Patron for Advancement from Emeritus Senior Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong. As one of SUTD’s pioneer Board of Trustees and the former Chairman of SUTD’s Advancement Sub-committee, Mr Goi led SUTD’s fundraising efforts to measurable success. As Patron, Mr Goi will continue to help steer SUTD’s fundraising efforts as well as garner partners and donors who have a heart for educating and nurturing the next generation of leaders and innovators.

SUTD presented its inaugural SUTD Benefactors Fellows Award to two distinguished individuals:

Mr Philip Ng (SUTD Founding Chairman and major donor to SUTD), and
Mr Sam Goi (Founding Chairman of SUTD’s Advancement Sub-committee and a major donor to SUTD)

This award confers the highest honour on benefactors whose contributions have been of paramount significance to the University.

Professor Chong Tow Chong, SUTD President, said: “Turning 10 is a significant milestone for SUTD and this event is not only a celebration, but also an appreciation to all our benefactors and donors for their kindness and generosity. Their gifts provide a tremendous boost to our efforts to ensure every deserving student can experience a high quality education at SUTD as well as to launch a new scholarship to enable students to pursue their aspirations for graduate studies with the new SUTD Global Excellence Scholarship. I am grateful to Quantedge Foundation and Expand Construction for their investments in education to provide equal opportunities such that no one gets left behind. On behalf of SUTD, I also want to give my heartfelt thanks to ESM Goh Chok Tong for his contributions in helping SUTD with our fundraising efforts during our early years. I am grateful to our pioneer Board of Trustee Mr Sam Goi, who takes over as Patron, for his unwavering support to SUTD from the very beginning.”

About Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)

The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is Singapore’s fourth public university. SUTD is one of the first universities in the world to incorporate the art and science of design and technology into a transdisciplinary, human-centric curriculum. SUTD seeks to advance knowledge and nurture technically-grounded leaders and innovators to serve societal needs. SUTD also recently topped a list of emerging engineering schools in the world in a study conducted by MIT.

A research-intensive university, SUTD is distinguished by its unique East and West academic programmes which incorporate elements of innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking and local and international industry collaborations. SUTD will focus in key areas – Healthcare, Cities and Aviation, supported by capabilities in Artificial Intelligence/Data Science and Digital Manufacturing. Multiple post-graduate opportunities are available. In addition, skill-based professional education and training courses are also available at SUTD Academy.

About Quantedge Foundation (Singapore) Ltd

Quantedge Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that aims to deliver impactful solutions to social issues and challenges in Singapore. Established by the principals of Quantedge Capital, the Foundation is registered as a Charity and has been an Institution of Public Character in Singapore since February 2016.

Quantedge Foundation believes that every child should have an equal opportunity to succeed and move up. Therefore, our current programmes focus on equalising access and improving social mobility. We work with partner organisations to design programmes to alleviate unfavourable starting conditions in life and expand the opportunity set for underprivileged children, as a pathway to lifting them and their families out of inter-generational poverty.

The Foundation has also supported efforts to promote a more inclusive and caring society, by raising awareness of vulnerable communities in Singapore and seed-funding projects to meet their diverse needs.

www.quantedge.org

About Expand Construction Pte Ltd

Expand Group is one of Singapore's major home-grown building construction groups with integrated civil engineering and construction support service capabilities. Starting from a humble beginning in 2000, Expand has built up an impressive track record of notable and iconic projects which have achieved numerous Industry awards. Expand has obtained the Building Construction Authority Registration Al CWOl-Building and A2 CW02-Civil Engineering. Expand has diversified to M&E Works under its fully owned subsidiary, Evergreen Engineering (L6-ME05 BCA Registration), which enables Expand to undertake and successfully deliver multi-disciplined projects.

Our conviction is; "Zero Harm Safety, High Quality, Cost¬Effectiveness and On-Time Delivery". Expand is accredited with ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, SS506:2009/OHSAS 18001:2007, bizSAFE Star, bizSAFE Partner and has obtained the Green & Gracious Builder (Excellent) certification.

Expand's strong emphasis on training and development of personnel has enabled the Group to develop and retain a pool of dedicated, competent and professional staff to meet the industry challenges and to cherish long term relationships with our business partners.

Expand is dedicated to providing value for every client.

www.expandgroup.com.sg

Annex A

Quantedge Foundation-SUTD Education Opportunity Grant

Established to help deserving students pursue their studies at SUTD, the SUTD Education Opportunity Grant initiative guarantees that every financially needy incoming undergraduate student receives a grant to offset his/her tuition fees, after taking into account subsidies, bursaries and other forms of financial assistance from the Singapore government and/or other donors.

Quantedge Foundation is seed-funding SUTD’s commitment to guarantee full financial aid for all Singaporean students from families with the greatest financial need. Eligibility for this broad-based programme is based primarily on the student’s household economic circumstances:

Singapore citizens enrolled as Freshmore students in a full-time undergraduate programme in SUTD from Academic Year 2020/21 onwards;
Have demonstrated financial need with monthly per capita income range of S$690 and below;
Residing in a 4-room type HDB flat or smaller, and whose immediate family members do not own any private property; and
Is not a recipient of any other scholarship.

Students who meet the eligibility criteria receive a grant of S$7,500 per academic year for up to four academic years, which when taken together with the Tuition Fee Grant and bursaries by the Government, makes their entire undergraduate education in SUTD free.

Annex B

Von Lee Yong Miang-SUTD Bursary Award

The Bursary Award is established to provide financial assistance to students in need. It provides a quantum of S$7,500 per academic year towards tuition fees, and is tenable for one academic year.

Eligibility:

Full-time undergraduate students of the University who are Singapore citizens, in any year of study and enrolled in any pillar;
Demonstrated financial need with monthly household per capita income of S$2,250 and below or the prevailing upper limit for monthly household per capita income as specified by the Ministry of Education for the eligibility criteria for the MOE Bursary (for Singapore citizens);
Good academic standing;
Active in Fifth row and community service involvement will be advantageous; and
Must not be a current scholarship holder.

Annex C

SUTD Global Excellence Scholarship

This Scholarship is one of SUTD’s most prestigious scholarships that celebrate talented students who

achieved excellence across multiple aspects beyond stellar academic performance, for example, achievements in sports or the arts, design innovations, active contributions to the community, etc; and
have the attitude, desire and potential to make an impact to society.

On top of a fully covered undergraduate education, the scholarship provides a S$15,000 grant to support the tuition fees for students who wish to further their studies at SUTD within three years upon their graduation from SUTD, allowance of S$5,000 every 2 terms and more.

Eligibility:

Full-time undergraduate students of the University who are Singapore citizens, enrolled as Freshmore students from Academic Year 2020/21 onwards (except those admitted to SUTD’s special programmes – STEP, SHARP, and SUTD Duke-NUS Special Track);
Outstanding academic qualifications, etc.