NUS Computing has received a generous multi-year donation from a leading homegrown consumer internet company to establish an Olympiad Scholarship. The Scholarship is open to all students who have excelled in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) and who intend to subsequently pursue their full-time undergraduate studies at NUS Computing. This is the first year that NUS Computing, as a school, is offering scholarships directly to IOI medallists. Previously, support for such talent was provided through more generic NUS scholarships.
Professor Mohan Kankanhalli, Dean, NUS Computing and the Vice-President of Labs at the company signed the agreement to establish the Scholarship and a ceremonial cheque was presented by the firm to the School. A donation of close to S$500,000 was made to NUS Computing to kickstart the initial funding for the Scholarship.
The inaugural recipients of the Scholarship are two first-year students in Computer Science. One student, who is from Mongolia, was a gold medallist at the IOI 2020 and International Mathematical Olympiad 2021, while the other, from Vietnam, was a gold medallist at both the IOI 2020 and 2019, as well as the Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad 2020.
The scholarship will enable NUS Computing to attract some of the best students with a demonstrated aptitude and a passion for computing and is a huge encouragement to the School in its pursuit of global excellence.
The Vice-President of Labs at the firm stated that their success would not have been possible without the strong pipeline of tech talent that has been nurtured by local institutes of higher learning such as NUS. It is hoped that through this scholarship, more top computing talent can be attracted to enrol in NUS and eventually contribute their ideas, energy and skills to growing the Singapore tech ecosystem.
Nurturing top computing talents
The scholarship is presented to Olympiad medallists, regardless of nationality, who have been successfully admitted to NUS Computing. The inaugural recipients of the Scholarship are former IOI Gold medallists. However, the intention is to eventually expand the pool of Scholarship candidates to deserving IOI Silver and Bronze medallists, as well as potentially to other International Olympiad medallists.
The full-board scholarship covers tuition fees, living allowances, accommodation, and overseas study programmes, among other expenses. Awardees of the scholarships will also be given the opportunity to intern with Sea during their studies.
The scholarship will be presented to at least one student every year until 2024. Besides the scholarship, the company is also behind the largest-ever corporate gift received by NUS of S$50 million in 2021 to support the advancement of cutting-edge research and education at NUS Computing.
The company is also a regular sponsor of the NUS International Collegiate Programming Contest and the National Olympiad in Informatics since 2014 and has actively supported various other activities conducted by NUS Computing, including the School of Computing Term Project Showcase (STePS) and Career Fair.
Transforming Singapore Through Technology
The digital era continues to rapidly evolve and as it does Singapore’s vision of a digital-first Singapore is one where a Digital Government, Digital Economy and Digital Society leverage technology to effect transformation in health, transport, urban living, government services and businesses.
Singapore’s Digital Government continues to invest in infrastructure and create shared open platforms for our businesses and citizens to learn and develop. The Digital Economy spurs businesses to invest in technology and talent to encourage growth beyond our shores. Moreover, the Digital Society empowers individuals to cultivate their talents and arm themselves with the latest digital technologies to realise their biggest inspirations, and live better lives together.
Meanwhile, the Smart Nation initiative is a way forward; technology will be so seamlessly integrated that it will transform the country.
