The Nanyang Technological University has set up a new teaching academy to raise the institution's teaching standards.

The Teaching Excellence Academy will bring together top professors and lecturers with the best teaching practices so that other faculty members can learn from them. These talented teaching staff will hold lifelong appointments as fellows.

The university will also give out higher-level teaching awards, and these award winners will be inducted as fellows for this academy. For a start there are already 12 fellows.

The university has also set aside $400,000 in research funding this year for the academy to spur faculty members to develop innovative teaching tools.

The academy will also drive projects to develop innovative teaching and learning methods and initiatives, which could be implemented across NTU. Students will also be involved - they will be asked to provide feedback on professors' teaching methods. Fellows will also mentor and support new faculty members, conduct teaching workshops and undertake studies of education-related matters.

NTU provost Freddy Boey said at a media briefing on Tuesday that this is the university's way to foster greater teaching standards, besides being a research-intensive institution.