SINGAPORE - A fund-raising milestone for a National University of Singapore (NUS) bursary programme borne of love was celebrated on Tuesday (Feb 13) with a Valentine's Day dinner.

About $226,000 has been raised since September last year for the NUS Campus Couples Bursary Fund, which supports bursaries for financially-disadvantaged undergraduates.

To mark the latest fund-raising efforts, a NUS Campus Couples Valentine's Dinner was held on Tuesday, attended by more than 100 NUS alumni couples.

The bursary fund had been initiated by alumnus Yeo Keng Joon, who met his wife Madam Kong Yuet Peng as a university student, NUS said in a statement on Tuesday (Feb 13).

The couple had obtained their MBA degrees from the NUS Business School.

"They had received financial help with their education and had felt that setting up a bursary fund was a tangible way of giving back to the NUS community," added the university.

Since the bursary fund's inception in 2015, more than $750,000 has been raised and 34 needy NUS students have benefited.

NUS president Tan Eng Chye said he was heartened by the support for financially needy students.

"Initiatives such as the NUS Campus Couples Bursary Fund help to boost the university's ongoing efforts at enabling more of our talented and deserving students to reach their fullest potential," said Prof Tan, one of the pioneer donors to the bursary fund.

"We are grateful to our alumni and friends for their generous contributions. I hope that their efforts will inspire more alumni to give back to their alma mater."