OVERSEAS POST: Prof Shih (above) was named the founding president of a graduate research university in Saudi Arabia. His No.2 at NUS, Prof Tan, will take over as president.

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Yesterday, NUS president Shih Choon Fong was named founding president of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

The graduate research university, a brainchild of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, was reported by the New York Times to have an endowment of more than US$10 billion (S$14.3 billion), making it one of the world's 10 richest.

Prof Shih's current No. 2 at NUS, Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, 48, will take over when he leaves at the end of the year after 11 years.

Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Singapore was proud of Prof Shih's appointment, and credited the Harvard-trained materials scientist with transforming NUS and helping it win recognition among the world's leading institutions.

Mr Wong Ngit Liong, who chairs the NUS board of trustees, said the university had been fortunate to benefit from a decade of Prof Shih's dedicated leadership.

Prof Shih, 62, was teaching at Brown University in the United States when he was talent-scouted by the Singapore government to return here to turn NUS into a world-class university.

He was appointed as NUS' deputy vice-chancellor in 1997, and took over as president in 2000.

The changes he wrought in his first few years at the helm were controversial. These included a performance- and market-based pay system for academics.

Academics also complained that their colleagues who did research, especially that which could be commercialised, were valued over those who taught well.

Despite complaints reaching even Parliament, Prof Shih stood his ground, saying it was the only way NUS could attract and keep the academic talent needed for it to become world-class.

Prof Shih, who recognised from early on the importance of internationalising the university, sought alliances with top schools through university groupings such as the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, which counts among its members US institutions Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley.

Rumblings were also heard over the university abandoning British traditions for American ones under Prof Shih's tenure.

But his turning the yearly convocation ceremony into an American-style commencement had a positive outcome: It drew alumni back to the campus for the annual event and reconnected them with NUS.

The changes Prof Shih made were instituted quickly, and earned NUS a firm place among the world's top 50 universities.

The incoming president, Prof Tan, said he would build on his predecessor's initiatives.

He said Prof Shih was passionate about making NUS a bridge to other top academic centres to maximise its students' exposure to the rest of the world through exchanges, research and work stints.

Prof Tan said: 'The bridge-building will continue as it is important to nurture graduates with a global mindset in an era where there is so much connectedness.'

Prof Tan was made senior deputy president last year and put in charge of the university's strategic plans and its budgets.

A kidney specialist, he joined NUS as a lecturer in the Department of Medicine in 1987 and became the university's youngest dean at the age of 38 in 1997.

In 2000, he was seconded to the Ministry of Health as director of medical services, before returning to NUS as deputy president and provost four years later.

Prof Shih gave him a vote of confidence, saying he had every reason to believe NUS would sustain its drive for global excellence under Prof Tan.

sandra@sph.com.sg