Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has disbursed SGD1.5 million in financial support to assist students facing hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April, NTU President Subra Suresh announced the NTU COVID-19 Relief Package to provide immediate help to students facing serious financial challenges due to the global pandemic.
To date, more than 1,000 NTU students have received financial support from the Relief Package. The typical assistance package offered to the students ranged between SGD500 and SGD3,000, depending on the individual needs of the student.
More than 400 of these students are beneficiaries of the recently launched NTU Priorities Fund, a fund supported exclusively from private philanthropy. This fund aims to assist the University’s neediest students who have no other recourse for financial support.
The NTU Priorities Fund was seeded and launched with a personal gift of SGD100,000 from Prof Subra Suresh and his wife, Mary Suresh. Thanks to the generosity and community spirit of more than 1,300 other donors who joined President and Mrs. Suresh, the Fund has grown to SGD1.5 million within four months.
This long list of donors includes many NTU faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and members of the Board of Trustees as well as organisations such as the Lee Foundation, GIC Private Ltd, and the Ngee Ann Kongsi Foundation. These external gifts also attract a matching endowment grant of another SGD1.5 million from the Singapore government to the University.
“It has been very inspiring to see the NTU faculty, staff, students, alumni and the wider community come together to support our needy students during this time of great uncertainty. Alleviating their financial burden allows them to focus on their studies without worrying about their living expenses," said NTU Deputy President and Provost Professor Ling San.