Undergraduate Research in the University Curriculum: An Institutional Perspective

Abstract

This paper conceptualizes undergraduate research broadly as a student inquiry into an academic area that makes an original academic and/or creative contribution to a particular discipline. This definition of the term highlights the engaged learning within a discipline in a process that guides students towards the goal where they contribute to knowledge creation. In this paper, we began by tracing the academic context of undergraduate research within the National University of Singapore by exploring undergraduate research experience within four big faculties, namely the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Science, the School of Computing and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. We then argue that it is very possible to develop deeper symbiotic connections between university research and student education, especially in research intensive universities. Faculty effort in integrative initiatives show the effectiveness of undergraduate research as one pathway to facilitate students’ knowledge creation goals within the respective discipline. It is the case in these faculties that integrating undergraduate research and learning provides the spaces for critical dialogue and better connections between academics, students and communities in the real world (Fung, A connected curriculum for higher education. London: University College London Press, 2017).