Comments on: Embarrassments

by: Fifi

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:47:22 +0100

HAHAHA this article is so funny. At least when Monash and Melbourne Uni were trying to sell similar programs to the students. Monash went on about supporting their students, listing out their projects, no research thesis to write for their masters unlike in unimelb, and emphasizing on their strengths. Uni of Melbourne went on the aggressive side by stating their publication rates,why they want their students to do a research thesis, the number of internationally recognised experts in their academic staffing, research projects with connections with other international agencies and then finally finished off by stating their ranking on the world stage vs Monash in a very polished manner.

So it is really interesting to see how NTU does it in Singapore. That was out of whack seriously but nothing surprising considering my past contacts with them.

by: hi

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:53:49 +0000

sad to say, AStar partner universities are here because it is just free research money for them. any student in science and technology who is worth his/her salt should be able to secure funding for phd studies. no sweat

by: Fox

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:14:15 +0000

You are being unfair to NTU on the citation statistics. Biology-related papers usually have higher citations than, say, engineering-related papers. I’m sure that if Dundee had taken into account their citation statistics for *all* their research fields, the figures would have dropped.

by: utopian

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:39:27 +0000

China town all over the world is a happening place. There is good food, racy girls, hasum bad boys and enuf gravy to drown in. Who wants to be in borning Singapore, when you can be happiest in China town?

by: Drop

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:12:52 +0000

Thanks for the info, HY & twasher.
Was curious to see if S’pore govt puts its money where its mouth is. At the end of the day, if the pay sucks, why would any S’porean go for an A* job? Although 5K isn’t bad for a start, the current inflation trend will dampen its attraction.

by: twasher

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:24:40 +0000

To add on to HY’s comment, the pay is different for post-docs from third-world countries. There’s supposedly a cap on pay for them. Some of them earn S$3000+ only.
There’s also (supposedly) a cap on pay for Singaporean scientists which doesn’t exist for foreign scientists (from first-world countries).

by: HY

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 03:26:36 +0000

hey NY chinatown is how happening… if you don’t have at least a bit of balls you won’t even venture in there, especially if you are not a new yorker.

haha actually it’s quite fun to bring an ang moh friend to NY chinatown and watch his expression when you show him the stuff that the chinese eats

as for drop’s question, the astar figure for returning NSS phd scholars is S$5000 minimum, depending on your previous experience and performance. though you are seriously considering joining astar?

by: Drop

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:14:28 +0000

Hi, does anyone know what is the salary that AStar will pay a fresh postdoc in science & engineering?

by: the(new)mediaslut

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:48:54 +0000

Chinatown - The land of introvert Singapore scholars?

In one sweeping statement, a Professor Lye, for the Nayang Technological University, might have insulted genius introverts, Singapore scholars and the importance of Chinatowns the world over.
Wrote twasher for rot.blogsome.com,
First, there was a gre…

by: LH

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:41:20 +0000

“Oops. It should be introvert. Thanks for pointing it out.”

I don’t understand why introversion carries such a negative connotation. It’s not as if extroverts can’t be crazy.

As usual, George Carlin sets things straight:

“Ever heard someone say, “It’s the quiet ones you gotta watch?” If you walk in a bar and one guy is sitting there minding his own business reading a book, but the other guy is screaming ‘I’M GONNA KILL THE NEXT SON-OF-A-BITCH THAT WALKS IN HERE’……………..Who ya gonna watch???”