In Singapore, it took the foundation of a second university, Nanyang Technological University, to get Australian studies off the ground as a multi-disciplinary area. Australian literature had been taught as a component of Commonwealth literature subjects during the 1970s and 1980s at the National University of Singapore. However, it was not until after Nanyang Technological University was established in 1991 that Australian literature and Australian history (which had never before been taught in Singapore) were made into distinct subjects to be taken by themselves. They have had very good enrolments since then (for instance, the majority of the students taking the history stream choose to do Australian history).
Singaporeans have had a keen interest in Australia. That interest has usually been expressed in the form of tourism. In 1997, out of a population of 2.8 million, about one quarter of a million Singaporeans visited Australia. It is reckoned that by 2005 nine out of ten Singaporeans would have visited Australia at least twice. Having the study of Australia at a university level allows Singaporeans to gain a knowledge of Australia that goes beyond the experience of tourism. Many students studying the country have visited it.
The mainstay of Australian studies in Singapore has been Associate Professor Kirpal Singh, of Nanyang Technological University, who has taught Australian literature in Singapore since the 1970s, when he was a lecturer at the University of Singapore, which in 1980 become the National University of Singapore. He did his doctorate at the University of Adelaide. At Nanyang Technological University, he teaches Australian literature across the curriculum. Students taking literature can focus on Australia at an advanced level in the subject 'Contemporary Writing from Australasia'.
In January 1994, Dr Kevin Blackburn, from the University of Queensland, began to teach the other prong of Australian studies in history at Nanyang Technological University. Students can study Australian history at an advanced level in 'Themes in Australian History', and then proceed onto an honours subject called 'Australia and the Asia-Pacific'. In history, Australia is taught across the curriculum in introductory subjects, such as 'History and Film' and 'Biography and History', where the Australian experience is included as a component part of a broader comparative perspective on cultural history.
If they choose to, university students in Singapore can now combine Australian literature and history and specialise in studying Australia, undertaking an unofficial Australian studies programme.
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