No one who has stepped into the Yale-NUS campus can doubt that it holds a special place within the National University of Singapore (NUS) - greatly prized, carefully tended and superbly resourced. Yale-NUS is a cherished part of our community. All NUS facilities are open to Yale-NUS students, and in good times, our professors celebrate winning research grants together; in tough times, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, NUS opened its hostels for Yale-NUS students who were quarantined.

Two weeks ago, we announced we were combining Yale-NUS College (Yale-NUS) with our University Scholars Programme (USP). Though we have committed to ensuring the full Yale-NUS experience for all its students until the college is wound down in 2025, I understand the deep sense of loss the Yale-NUS community feels because the college, its culture and legacy, and its beautiful spaces are without equal.