SINGAPORE'S fourth university will open its doors in 2011, and will admit 500 students in its first batch.

What is not known yet is where classes will be held between then and 2013, when a permanent campus at Changi will be ready.

The fourth university will sit largely on land that had been put aside for the aborted University of New South Wales Asia project at Upper Changi Road - a stone's throw from the Singapore Expo.

Two sites across the road, which are now a primary school holding site and an empty plot of land, will also be used, for a total land area of 23ha.

Details of the much-discussed project were released by the Education Ministry on Monday at a press conference chaired by Education Minister Ng Eng Hen.

When it opens, the university will offer only one or two of the three disciplines identified for it: engineering and applied sciences, business and IT, and design and architecture.

With a permanent location, opening date and enrolment announced, the next step for the institution will be finding a president.

A global search will be led by Far East Organisation chief executive Philip Ng, who was tabbed on Monday as the chairman of a steering committee that will be set up to oversee the establishment of the university.

The panel will comprise leaders from academia, industry and the public sector.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.