Living and Learning

A skygarden of a Yale-NUS College residential college. Three students in skygarden, two students 1 story above and another male student 1 more story above. Green plants are hanging from the upper floor. Image credit: Jeff Goldberg. Esto

© Jeff Goldberg. Esto

Living and Learning

One of the most distinctive aspects of studying at Yale-NUS College was the requirement for students to live on campus for all four years of their degree. This made the campus the centre of student life: it was the students’ home and workplace, but also where they ate, socialised, played and relaxed.

This residential experience created an integrated ‘living and learning’ environment that helped achieve the College’s educational mission.

Professor Tan Tai Yong and three professors (female professor in violet dress and flower head accessory, male professor in glasses, brown shirt with ethnic motifs and beard, Tan Tai Yong in a orange shirt, female professor in a green dress and a head accessory) standing while seven other people look at them. Everyone seems cheerful, some are clapping.

Oral History Interview

Yale-NUS’ second President Tan Tai Yong explains how the College blurred the lines between living and learning.

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History of
Residential Colleges

The concept of ‘living and learning’ developed from a long history of residential colleges, dating back to the first such colleges built at Oxford University in the 13th century. Further inspiration came from Yale University’s ‘nested communities’ where students are grouped together into a series of communities of increasing size.

Four female students (glasses and a navy blue top, glasses and white top with stripes, glasses, black shirt and blond tips, teal shirt left to right) doing an activity together in Yale-NUS College Library Programming Room. Papers and various water bottles are present on the table in front of them.

Yale College has a strong tradition of residential college living as a way to help the students really develop and grow.

NUS President Tan Chorh Chuan describes learning from Yale College’s approach to residential learning.

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Talking about
The Peer Effect

Learning from Each Other

Outside of Formal Classes

People from Different Backgrounds

Being Part of a Diverse Group

Two students (a male student with a grey shirt and glasses, a female student with grey cardigan) are having a discussion in a Yale-NUS College classroom, faded green writing on the whiteboard in the background.

Campus Design

The campus was designed to encourage community development and to stimulate learning outside of traditional classrooms and lecture halls.

A male student in a black t-shirt and a female professor with glasses and short hair having a discussion sitting at a long dining hall table, photographed from the end of the table.

Both the student and the faculty learn to talk about ideas in ways that are not possible in the classroom.

The campus design produced an open learning environment, as noted by Professor of Social Sciences (Urban Studies) Jane Jacobs.

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Two students (one male student with glasses and backpack in a red shirt and a female student with ginger hair, green t-shirt and a tote bag, holding a yellow book) are looking at a book together outside the Yale-NUS College library upper floor, greenery in the background.

The layout of the buildings and grounds provided opportunities for people to casually meet.

Faculty Living on Campus

Forming a Community
of Learning

A drawing of Maggie Schumann in a red flannel, the background is cloudy blue with pink and white touches.

Where else can I joke with administrator’s kids, practise a new language with native speakers, and discuss techie culture with philosophy professors? Studying at Yale-NUS with such curious and adventurous classmates means having a lot of new experiences, including early morning qigong!

—Maggie Schumann (Class of 2017)

Elm courtyard, two tables, and greenery in the background. Three female students are sitting at one of the tables. One student lying down on the hammock in the background.

The requirement that all students live on campus meant that a close-knit community was formed, with students living, studying, eating and socialising together. New and unexpected connections were made, with fellow students, but also with faculty and staff. In this way, learning was no longer restricted to the classroom, but expanded to make the entire campus a space for living and learning.