1. This Act is the National University of Singapore (Corporatisation) Act 2005.
National University of Singapore (Corporatisation) Act 2005
An Act to provide for the corporatisation of the National University of Singapore and for the transfer of its property, rights and liabilities to a successor company, and to provide for certain matters relating to that company.
Data synced
Compiled from an official source version. Later amendments or repeals may not be reflected; the official text prevails. Read the official text ↗
PART 1 — PRELIMINARY
2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —“Board” means the Board of Trustees of the university company mentioned in its constituent documents;
“constituent documents”, in relation to the university company, means the memorandum of association and articles of association of the university company;
“predecessor university” means the National University of Singapore established under the repealed National University of Singapore Act (Cap. 204, 2002 Revised Edition);
“university company” means the company limited by guarantee incorporated under the Companies Act 1967 under the name “National University of Singapore”.
(2) To avoid doubt —(a)
any reference in this Act to property vested in the predecessor university is a reference to such property, whether situated in Singapore or elsewhere; and
(b)
any reference in this Act to rights or liabilities of the predecessor university is a reference to such rights to which the predecessor university is entitled or such liabilities to which the predecessor university is subject (as the case may be) whether under the laws of Singapore or of any country outside Singapore, and includes such rights or liabilities arising under loans raised by the predecessor university.
PART 2 — PROVISIONS RELATING TO UNIVERSITY COMPANY
3. The function of the university company is to pursue, within the limits of the financial resources available to it, the objects provided by its constituent documents and, in particular, to confer and award degrees, diplomas and certificates, including honorary degrees and other distinctions.
4.—(1) The university company must comply with the accountability framework set out by way of any written agreement between the university company and the Minister or any person authorised by the Minister.
(2) The university company must evaluate the performance of its activities in accordance with such quality assurance framework as the Minister may determine.
(3) The university company must participate in the evaluation of its activities by any external review panel that the Minister may commission from time to time.
5.—(1) The Minister may, in consultation with the university company, establish any policies on higher education in Singapore that the Minister thinks fit and may direct the university company to implement those policies.
(2) The university company must comply with any direction given by the Minister under subsection (1).
6.—(1) The Board consists of such number of trustees as the Minister may appoint.
(2) The Minister may, at any time, remove or replace any trustee, or appoint new or additional trustees to the Board.
7.—(1) The prior written consent of the Minister is required for —(a)
the admission of any person as a member of the university company and the removal of any such member;
(b)
the disposal of the whole or substantially the whole of the university company’s undertaking or property;
(c)
the voluntary winding up of the university company;
(d)
the addition, deletion or alteration of any provision of the constituent documents of the university company; and
(e)
the removal of any trustee from the Board.
(2) The requirements under subsection (1) apply in addition to the requirements prescribed by the Companies Act 1967 and the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 in respect of the matters referred to in subsection (1)(a) to (e).[40/2018]
(3) Any act done or agreement made in contravention of subsection (1) has no effect and is unenforceable at law.
8.—(1) The Minister must pay to the university company such moneys as Parliament may provide from time to time for the funding of the university company.
(2) All moneys paid to the university company under subsection (1) may only be applied or expended by the university company for such objects provided by its constituent documents as the Minister may allow.
9.—(1) The Minister or a person authorised by the Minister (called in this section an authorised person) is entitled, at all reasonable times, to full and free access to all accounting and other records relating, directly or indirectly, to the financial transactions of the university company.
(2) The Minister or an authorised person may require any person to provide him or her with any information in that person’s possession, or to which that person has access, that the Minister or authorised person considers necessary for ascertaining —(a)
whether moneys paid to the university company under section 8 were applied or expended in accordance with that section; and
(b)
any other matters that the Minister or authorised person considers necessary.
(3) The university company must make available to the public, at such frequency and in such manner as the Minister may determine, a summary of the financial statements of the university company which must be in such form and contain such information as the Minister may determine.
(4) Any person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any requirement of the Minister or an authorised person under subsection (2) or who otherwise hinders, obstructs or delays the Minister or an authorised person in the performance of his or her duties or in the exercise of his or her powers under this section, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $1,000.
10.—(1) Despite anything to the contrary in the Societies Act 1966, the provisions of that Act have effect in relation to any student body constituted pursuant to the provisions of the constituent documents of the university company.
(2) The Minister charged with the responsibility for societies may, by order in the Gazette, exempt any student body mentioned in subsection (1) from all or any of the provisions of the Societies Act 1966 subject to any conditions specified in the order.
11.—(1) Any provision of the constituent documents, or any regulation of the university company made pursuant to any provision of the constituent documents, that is inconsistent with any provision of this Act is, to the extent of the inconsistency, void.
(2) Nothing in this Act is to be construed as excusing or exempting the university company from complying with any written law that, apart from this Act, would apply to the university company.
PART 3 — TRANSFER OF PROPERTY, RIGHTS, LIABILITIES, EMPLOYEES, ETC., TO UNIVERSITY COMPANY
12.—(1) As from 1 April 2006, such property, rights and liabilities comprised in the undertaking of the predecessor university determined by the Minister and agreed to by the Minister for Finance are, by virtue of this section and without further assurance, act or deed, transferred to and vested in the university company.
(2) Any property which by any scheme, will or other instrument or otherwise was held upon trust for any specific foundation or object of the predecessor university and which has been transferred to or vests in the university company by virtue of subsection (1) must, after the transfer or vesting, be held upon trust for and applied as far as possible to the like foundation or object of the university company.
(3) Any property which was held upon any trust and which has been transferred to or vests in the university company by virtue of subsection (1) must, after the transfer or vesting, be held upon the same trust.
(4) If any question arises as to whether any particular property, right or liability has been transferred to or vested in the university company under subsection (1), a certificate under the hand of the Minister for Finance is conclusive evidence that the property, right or liability was or was not so transferred or vested.
(5) Any immovable property to be transferred to and vested in the university company under subsection (1) must be held by the university company upon the tenure and subject to the terms and conditions determined by the President.
(6) Despite section 145 of the Land Titles Act 1993, it is not necessary for the university company to make any application to the Registrar of Titles to enter in the land‑register a memorial of the vesting in favour of the university company of all mortgages or charges of registered land comprised in the undertakings transferred to and vested in the university company under this Act.
(7) Section 56(1) of the Land Titles Act 1993 does not apply to any instrument executed by the university company purporting to dispose of, or to create an interest in, mortgages or charges of registered land comprised in the undertakings transferred to and vested in the university company under this Act and does not prevent the registration of any such instrument executed by the university company, even though the university company may not be named as the proprietor or proprietors of the registered land in the land-register at the time of the registration of that instrument.
(8) Despite section 4 of the Registration of Deeds Act 1988, it is not necessary for the university company to register the vesting in favour of the university company of all mortgages or charges of unregistered land comprised in the undertakings transferred to and vested in the university company under this Act, and the production of a Government Printer’s copy of this Act is admissible in any court as evidence of the university company’s interest in that land.
(9) For the purposes of the Land Titles Act 1993 and the Registration of Deeds Act 1988, all caveats or memoranda of charge claiming an interest in land as mortgagee or chargee lodged by the predecessor university and subsisting as at 1 April 2006 are construed and have effect on and after that date as if every reference in them to the predecessor university were substituted with a reference to the university company.
(10) All proceedings by or against the predecessor university which were commenced before 1 April 2006 and which are pending on that date may be continued, completed and enforced by or against the university company on and after that date.
(11) Every agreement relating to any of the transferred properties to which the predecessor university was a party immediately before 1 April 2006, whether or not of a nature that the rights and liabilities under the agreement can be assigned, has effect on and after that date as if —(a)
the university company had been a party to the agreement; and
(b)
every reference in the agreement to the predecessor university were substituted in respect of anything to be done on or after that date, with a reference to the university company.
13.—(1) As from 1 April 2006, all persons employed immediately before that date by the predecessor university are transferred to the service of the university company on terms no less favourable than those enjoyed by them immediately prior to their transfer.
(2) Until the terms and conditions of service are drawn up by the university company, the scheme and terms and conditions of service in the predecessor university continue to apply to every person transferred to the service of the university company under subsection (1) as if the person were still in the service of the predecessor university.
14.—(1) The university company must, in drawing up the terms and conditions of service of any person transferred to the service of the university company under section 13, consider the terms and conditions of service, including any accrued rights to leave, enjoyed by that person while in the employment of the predecessor university.
(2) The university company must, in drawing up any term or condition relating to the length of service of any person with the university company, provide for the recognition of service under the predecessor university by that person to be service under the university company.
15. All deeds, contracts, schemes, bonds, agreements, instruments and arrangements subsisting immediately before 1 April 2006 to which the predecessor university is a party continue in force on and after that date and are enforceable by or against the university company as if the university company had been named in them or had been a party to them instead of the predecessor university.
16.—(1) Where any disciplinary proceedings commenced before 1 April 2006 against —(a)
any employee of the predecessor university transferred to the service of the university company under section 13; or
(b)
any student of the predecessor university,
are pending on that date, the proceedings must, on and after that date, be carried on and completed by the university company.
(2) Where any hearing or investigation by a duly authorised committee of the predecessor university has commenced before 1 April 2006, but no order, ruling or direction has been made thereon immediately before that date, the committee must, on or after that date, complete the hearing or investigation and may make such order, ruling or direction as it could have made under the authority vested in it before that date.
(3) Any order, ruling or direction made by a committee under subsection (2) is to be treated as an order, ruling or direction of the university company and has the same force and effect as if it had been made by a duly authorised committee of the university company.
17. The university company may reprimand, reduce in rank, retire, dismiss or punish in any other manner a person who had, while the person was in the employment of the predecessor university, been guilty of any misconduct or neglect of duty which would have rendered the person liable to be reprimanded, reduced in rank, retired, dismissed or punished in any other manner if the person had continued to be in the employment of the predecessor university, and if this Act had not been enacted.
PART 4 — MISCELLANEOUS
18.—(1) On 1 April 2006, all property, rights and liabilities of the predecessor university relating to the ASPF Scheme are transferred to and vest in the university company.
(2) Any person who, immediately before 1 April 2006, was a member or former member of the ASPF Scheme continues, on and after that date, to be a member or former member (as the case may be) of the ASPF Scheme.
(3) The university company must, on 28 December 2007, dissolve the ASPF Scheme in accordance with the First Schedule.
(4) Despite the repeal of the National University of Singapore Act (Cap. 204, 2002 Revised Edition), until the time that the ASPF Scheme is dissolved —(a)
section 15 of and the Second Schedule to the National University of Singapore Act (Cap. 204, 2002 Revised Edition) in force immediately before 1 April 2006 and Statute 18 remain in force and continue to apply to the ASPF Scheme; and
(b)
the Board of Trustees of the university company may amend Statute 18 for the purposes of alignment with the prevailing policy in respect of the treatment of moneys or investments under the Central Provident Fund Act 1953.
(5) On 28 December 2007, the property and rights of the university company relating to the ASPF Scheme are transferred to and vest in the CPF Board in accordance with the First Schedule.
(6) The Minister may, by order in the Gazette, amend the First Schedule.
(7) In this section and the First Schedule, unless the context otherwise requires —“ASPF Scheme” means the Academic Staff Provident Fund Scheme established by the predecessor university under Statute 18;
“CPF Board” means the Central Provident Fund Board established and constituted under the Central Provident Fund Act 1953;
“Statute 18” means Statute 18 (Academic Staff Provident Fund Scheme) made pursuant to the National University of Singapore Act (Cap. 204, 2002 Revised Edition), as may be amended from time to time by the Board under subsection (4)(b).
19. On 1 April 2006, the students’ association known as the National University of Singapore Students’ Union and its constituent bodies are deemed to be constituted pursuant to the provisions of the constituent documents of the university company.
20. The provisions of the Second Schedule apply to all persons whose names are on the register of the Guild of Graduates of the predecessor university.
Cite this legislation
- Official citation
- NUSCA2005
- Source
- sso.agc.gov.sg
- Data synced
National University of Singapore (Corporatisation) Act 2005 (sso.agc.gov.sg). Retrieved via LawPlayer, https://lawplayer.com/sg/act/NUSCA2005
This text is synced from sso.agc.gov.sg. In case of any discrepancy, the official version prevails.
Source: Singapore Statutes Online (Attorney-General's Chambers), © Government of Singapore.
The Singapore legislation on this platform is subject to copyright of the Singapore Government and is used/reproduced for the purposes of this platform with the permission of the Attorney-General's Chambers. Users of this platform may check Singapore Statutes Online for the latest version of the Singapore legislation.