Republic Polytechnic
Encyclopedia
Republic Polytechnic (Chinese: 共和理工学院), commonly abbreviated to RP, is a tertiary institution located in Singapore
. It was the first school system in Singapore to use Problem-based learning
(PBL) pedagogy for all its diplomas.
RP’s project team began operating in the premises of Data Storage Institute, National University of Singapore
in January 2002. On 1st July 2002, it shifted into Tanglin Campus which was previously occupied by the Ministry of Education, Singapore. It opened its doors to the first intake of students in 2003 before moving to the current Woodlands
campus in 2006.
As of February 2010, RP has six schools and one centre, a total of 36 courses are on offer: School of Applied Science, School of Engineering, School of Sports, Health and Leisure, School of Information and Communications Technology, School of Hospitality, School of Technology for the Arts and Centre for Culture and Communication.
Lee Hsien Loong
. The campus was designed by Japanese architect, Fumihiko Maki
and DP Architects. Completed in 2006, the new campus is able to cater 13,000 students. It is conceived as a campus with a central nucleus which contains 11 learning Pods (8-9 storeys high) which are unified by 2 elliptical decks of common facilities, namely The Lawn and The Agora.
Also known as a Paperless Campus, RP's Woodlands campus is backed by IT
-supported network for both academic and administrative functions. It employs state-of-the-art technology, through its solid wireless IT infrastructure supported by a comprehensive hardware-software system. In line with its green approach, environmentally friendly features such as fritted
glasses, flooring made from recycled nylon
and tyres
, and sunshade louvres were integrated in the building design. Replacing the conventional air-conditioning system, the campus is equipped with tanks containing chilled water, which are recharged at night using low tariff electrcity. This significantly reduce overall electric consumption.
In 2008, RP earned the ASEAN Best Practices for Energy Efficient Buildings Competition under the New and Existing Buildings category. While in November 2009, RP was awarded the Green Office
Label under Project Eco-Office by the Singapore Environment Council. The Green Office
Label (2001-2011) reaffirms RP as an environmentally friendly work place. RP was later honoured with the President*s Design Award in 2010. The campus was also the first to win the First-ever Singapore Green Mark Plantinum award for its eco friendly
design.
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. It was the first school system in Singapore to use Problem-based learning
Problem-based learning
Problem-based learning is a student-centered pedagogy in which students learn about a subject in the context of complex, multifaceted, and realistic problems...
(PBL) pedagogy for all its diplomas.
RP’s project team began operating in the premises of Data Storage Institute, National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
in January 2002. On 1st July 2002, it shifted into Tanglin Campus which was previously occupied by the Ministry of Education, Singapore. It opened its doors to the first intake of students in 2003 before moving to the current Woodlands
Woodlands, Singapore
Woodlands, or the Woodlands New Town , is a suburban town in northern Singapore, part of the North West Community Development Council district...
campus in 2006.
As of February 2010, RP has six schools and one centre, a total of 36 courses are on offer: School of Applied Science, School of Engineering, School of Sports, Health and Leisure, School of Information and Communications Technology, School of Hospitality, School of Technology for the Arts and Centre for Culture and Communication.
Green Campus
On 31st July 2007, RP's Woodlands campus was officially opened by Singapore's Prime MinisterPrime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....
. The campus was designed by Japanese architect, Fumihiko Maki
Fumihiko Maki
is a Japanese architect and currently teaching at Keio University SFC.- Biography :After studying at the University of Tokyo he moved to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and then to Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1956, he took a post as assistant professor of...
and DP Architects. Completed in 2006, the new campus is able to cater 13,000 students. It is conceived as a campus with a central nucleus which contains 11 learning Pods (8-9 storeys high) which are unified by 2 elliptical decks of common facilities, namely The Lawn and The Agora.
Also known as a Paperless Campus, RP's Woodlands campus is backed by IT
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
-supported network for both academic and administrative functions. It employs state-of-the-art technology, through its solid wireless IT infrastructure supported by a comprehensive hardware-software system. In line with its green approach, environmentally friendly features such as fritted
Frit
Frit is a ceramic composition that has been fused in a special fusing oven, quenched to form a glass, and granulated. Frits form an important part of the batches used in compounding enamels and ceramic glazes; the purpose of this pre-fusion is to render any soluble and/or toxic components insoluble...
glasses, flooring made from recycled nylon
Nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...
and tyres
Tire recycling
Tire recycling or rubber recycling is the process of recycling vehicles tires that are no longer suitable for use on vehicles due to wear or irreparable damage . These tires are among the largest and most problematic sources of waste, due to the large volume produced and their durability...
, and sunshade louvres were integrated in the building design. Replacing the conventional air-conditioning system, the campus is equipped with tanks containing chilled water, which are recharged at night using low tariff electrcity. This significantly reduce overall electric consumption.
In 2008, RP earned the ASEAN Best Practices for Energy Efficient Buildings Competition under the New and Existing Buildings category. While in November 2009, RP was awarded the Green Office
Green building
Green building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...
Label under Project Eco-Office by the Singapore Environment Council. The Green Office
Green building
Green building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...
Label (2001-2011) reaffirms RP as an environmentally friendly work place. RP was later honoured with the President*s Design Award in 2010. The campus was also the first to win the First-ever Singapore Green Mark Plantinum award for its eco friendly
Environmentally friendly
Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....
design.
Schools and Centre
RP partners with local and overseas universities for advanced standing arrangements for its diploma programmes. Graduates who are interested in continuing their education overseas typically can obtain up to 1.0 - 1.5 years exemptions from a degree programme. Currently, RP has a selection of 36 full-time diplomas courses run by the following 6 schools and 1 centre:- School of Applied Science
- School of Engineering
- School of Hospitality
- School of Information and Communications Technology
- School of Sports, Health and Leisure
- School of Technology for the Arts
- Centre for Culture and Communication
Achievements
- RP School of Applied Science partnered National University of SingaporeNational University of SingaporeThe National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....
to launch a revolutionary project that "coaxes silkworms to spin high-strength silkSilkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
fibres" that are stronger than kevlarKevlarKevlar is the registered trademark for a para-aramid synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed at DuPont in 1965, this high strength material was first commercially used in the early 1970s as a replacement for steel in racing tires... - A team of Diploma in Biomedical Engineering students from School of Engineering developed possibly the world's first iPhoneIPhoneThe iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
-based portable brain control system - The team which developed the i-Phone based portable brain control system won the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES) Design 2011 Gold Award. They will represent Singapore in the 5th International Convention on Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology (I-CREATe) in Bangkok, Thailand.
- RP School of Hospitality opened a $2 million restaurant training laboratory, Oliva, which is fully manned by RP's hospitality students.
- RP School of Sports Health and Leisure developed a high-tech test of balance and stability
- RP School of Engineering clinched medals from three categories in the 17th Singapore Robotic Games.
Industry Collaborations
- 26 January 2011, RP went into an exclusive partnership with the integrated resortIntegrated ResortAn integrated resort is a resort with a wide variety of leisure and entertainment attractions, all housed in one resort property. The first known integrated resort began in early 1980s in Malaysia, when Resorts World Genting was developed from a single hotel with casino facility to a variety of...
, Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). Top performers from RP School of Hospitality will be selected to participate in a specialisation track in Theme Park and Attraction Management. - RP and EON RealityEon RealityEON Reality, founded in 1999, is a private held US corporation with fully owned subsidiaries in Singapore and Sweden. EON Reality is focused on virtual reality solutions from simulation-based learning and safety training to the creation of interactive 3D product applications for a variety of...
, on 16 November 2010, signed a Memorandum of UnderstandingMemorandum of understandingA memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
. The collaboration aims to expand the Interactive Digital MediaInteractive mediaInteractive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user’s actions by presenting content such as text, graphics, animation, video, audio, etc.-Terminology:...
(IDM) industry through student internship programmes, academic module development, laboratory research and more. - Marina Bay Sands and RP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 9 September 2010.
- On 27 July 2010, International Business Machines (IBM) and RP, signed an agreement that makes the institution the first IBM Authorised Training Partner in ASEAN to offer professional certification and training on mainframeMainframe computerMainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
technology in Singapore and the region. - To facilitate and support the growth of the sports industry, and to enhance the capability and professionalism of stakeholders in the industry, RP signed a Memorandum of UnderstandingMemorandum of understandingA memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
with Singapore Sports CouncilSingapore Sports CouncilThe Singapore Sports Council is a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports of the Singapore Government...
on 13 May 2010. - On 28 April 2010, RP signed a Memorandum of UnderstandingMemorandum of understandingA memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
with High Tech Computer Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd (HTC) in which they will collaborate to train RP students in mobile application technologyMobile application developmentMobile application development is the process by which application software is developed for small low-power handheld devices such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones...
.
Notable Alumni
- Chan Jun Wei William - WorldSkills Singapore 2011 Gold Medallist in the category of Information NetworkInformation networksInformation networks are networks that transmit information in versatile human and technical networks to enhance knowledge, business or social aims. Often they use information technology in contrast to biological neural networks or social networks research...
Cabling - Isabelle Li - Singapore National Table TennisTable tennisTable tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
Paddler & Singapore Youth Olympic GamesSingapore at the 2010 Summer Youth OlympicsSingapore is the host of the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. It will participate in all 26 sports, with a total of 129 athletes representing the nation.-Medalists:Medals awarded to participants of mixed-NOC teams are represented in italics...
(YOG) Medallist - Shafinas Abdul Rahman - Taekwon-doTaekwondoTaekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
Athlete & Singapore Youth Olympic GamesSingapore at the 2010 Summer Youth OlympicsSingapore is the host of the inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. It will participate in all 26 sports, with a total of 129 athletes representing the nation.-Medalists:Medals awarded to participants of mixed-NOC teams are represented in italics...
(YOG) Medallist - Tabitha NauserTabitha NauserTabitha Nauser is a Singaporean Pop/R&B singer and artiste who was the second runner-up in the 2009 season of Singapore Idol . In 2010, she was selected to represent the continent of Asia to sing the Official Theme Song of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, Everyone...
- 2nd Runner-up, Singapore IdolSingapore IdolSingapore Idol is a television show on Channel 5 of MediaCorp TV. It is a competition among undiscovered singers in Singapore. Like others in the Idol series, it is modelled after Pop Idol. The current judges are singer/songwriter Dick Lee and record producers Florence Lian and Ken Lim. Previous...
™(Season 3, 2009) - Valerie Lim - Modern PentathlonModern pentathlonThe modern pentathlon is a sports contest that includes five events: pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run...
Athlete - Bob Ali Bin Batman - Singapore national soccer team, the first singaporean to play for Fc Barcelona.