Becoming World-Class Universities Singapore Style: Are Organized Research Units the Answer?

Abstract

This study sought to understand using qualitative methods why and how the Government of Singapore came to set-up organized research units (ORU) in her two autonomous universities - the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU). That is, are ORUs the chief means in transforming NUS and NTU into top WCUs? The underpinnings of the institutional theory in the globalized context, the theory of academic capitalism, and guidance by frameworks on educational policy transfer, as well as the glonacal heuristics, together with document and discourse analysis of published documents, aided in the design of this study.This study finds that key state and institutional actors in Singapore decided to emulate the key features of U.S.-originated organized research units to make R&D and innovation-led economic growth the vehicle of sustaining this global city-state's global competitiveness in the knowledge-economy and to better elevate the status of both NUS and NTU as world-class. Because global rankings have branding implications, catch-up nations and institutions should make serious attempts to balance the ranking-enhancement effort with their local, national, and regional science-research needs given the constraints of available capital and resources.