26 September 2012, Singapore - The family of the late Mr Wee Chong Jin, the Republic of Singapore’s first Chief Justice, has set up an endowed fund for students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Singapore Management University (SMU).
With the gift, NUS will establish up to two Wee Chong Jin Scholarships in Law, while SMU will establish one Wee Chong Jin Scholarship in Law and the Wee Chong Jin Prize for the Most Outstanding Juris Doctor Graduate.
“Chong Jin was loved and well-respected by many. My children and I felt that bequeathing scholarships for needy undergraduates in his name was a meaningful way to remember him by. We hope that present and future students in both law schools will be inspired by the qualities of integrity, passion and hard work which marked his life-time achievements and legal career," said Mrs Cecilia Wee Chong Jin, wife of the late Mr Wee Chong Jin.
NUS will award up to two Scholarships a year, valued at S$10,000 each. The award is to support law students pursuing their undergraduate studies in NUS Faculty of Law who embody similar values to the late Mr Wee. The candidate should be a law student who is active in community or charity work, and display a spirit of sportsmanship and collegiality.
“The Wee Chong Jin Scholarships in Law will help financially needy students who epitomise the very best qualities in a lawyer: young men and women of outstanding academic ability who are also deeply engaged in their communities,” said Professor Simon Chesterman, Dean of NUS Faculty of Law. “As NUS Law strives to be one of the very best law schools in the world, it is important that we do so without leaving deserving students behind. Through the generosity of the Wee family, these scholarships help us achieve that aim — while also celebrating the memory of an outstanding jurist and a role model for the next generation of lawyers and judges.”
At SMU, the Wee Chong Jin Scholarship in Law will be awarded to undergraduate law students following the traditional UK model of legal education at the undergraduate level whereas the Wee Chong Jin Prize for the Most Outstanding Juris Doctor Graduate will be awarded to law students pursuing the North American model of legal education at the postgraduate level through the Juris Doctor programme, pioneered by SMU in Singapore in 2009.
Professor Yeo Tiong Min, S.C. (Hon), Dean of SMU School of Law, said, “We are very grateful to the family of the late Mr Wee Chong Jin for setting up both the Wee Chong Jin Scholarship in Law and the Wee Chong Jin Prize for the Most Outstanding Juris Doctor Graduate at SMU. Through these awards, SMU students will be able to aspire to the qualities epitomised by the late Mr Wee Chong Jin – excellence, charity and collegiality.”
The inaugural Wee Chong Jin scholars, fourth-year NUS law student Seng Han Ting and second-year SMU law student Eugene Neo Zhi Wei, were announced at the Wee Chong Jin Scholarship Appreciation Event held this afternoon at the Supreme Court. Both students were elated to receive from Mrs Cecilia Wee a biography of the late Mr Wee, entitled The First Chief: Wee Chong Jin – A Judicial Portrait, which will enable them to get a full appreciation of Mr Wee’s contributions to the Judiciary and judicial system of Singapore.
The appreciation event was graced by Guest-of-Honour, The Honourable The Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong. Also present at the event was Puan Noor Aishah, wife of former President of the Republic of Singapore Yusof Ishak.
About Mr Wee Chong Jin
Mr Wee Chong Jin (b. 28 September 1917, Georgetown, Penang - d. 5 June 2005) was the first Singaporean and Asian to head Singapore’s Supreme Court Judiciary when he was appointed Chief Justice in 1963. His appointment marked the end of the century-old tradition of appointing British Chief Justices. As Chief Justice, until he retired in 1990, he held the record for being the longest serving Chief Justice in the Commonwealth. A man of many achievements, he was conferred the honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from Oxford University in 1987.
Enclosures:
- Annex 1 – Fact Sheet on the Wee Chong Jin Scholarship in Law and Wee Chong Jin Prize for the Most Outstanding Juris Doctor Graduate
- Annex 2 – Profile of Scholarship recipients
- Annex 3 – Detailed profile of Mr Wee Chong Jin
- Photographs of the late Mr Wee Chong Jin and of the Scholarship Appreciation Event will be issued after the event.
About the National University of Singapore (NUS)
A leading global university centred in Asia, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore’s flagship university which offers a global approach to education and research, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise.
NUS has 16 faculties and schools across three campuses. Its transformative education includes a broad-based curriculum underscored by multi-disciplinary courses and cross faculty enrichment. Over 37,000 students from 100 countries enrich the community with their diverse social and cultural perspectives.
NUS has three Research Centres of Excellence (RCE) and 22 university-level research institutes and centres. It is also a partner in Singapore’s 5th RCE. NUS shares a close affiliation with 16 national-level research institutes and centres. Research activities are strategic and robust, and NUS is well-known for its research strengths in engineering, life sciences and biomedicine, social sciences and natural sciences. It also strives to create a supportive and innovative environment to promote creative enterprise within its community.
For more information, please visit http://www.nus.edu.sg/
About the NUS Law School
NUS Law is Asia’s Global Law School. Widely regarded as the region's leading law school, it sees itself as part of a global conversation about the study and practice of law. Its diverse faculty includes 60 full-time academics together with many adjuncts and visitors; its 1,200 undergraduate and postgraduate students include some of Singapore’s top school leavers as well as outstanding scholars from all over the globe.
In addition to its teaching programme, the faculty is a major source of research on legal issues affecting Singapore, the region and beyond. NUS Law produces the leading publication on Singapore law as well as the Asian Journal of Comparative Law and the Asian Journal of International Law. The Faculty regularly publishes in these and other leading journals, as well as producing their own monographs and engaging with the public through mass media.
The Law School’s alumni are a who’s who of Singapore’s legal community. Graduates include leaders in the profession, government ministers, Supreme Court judges, ambassadors, community leaders, social workers and many more. Other alumni go on to careers that take them to the heights of the profession around the world.
For more information, please visit http://www.law.nus.edu.sg/
About the SMU School of Law
SMU School of Law proudly welcomed its first cohort of 116 students in August 2007. Taught by a dynamic faculty with postgraduate degrees from renowned universities such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and London, the School aims to nurture its students to become excellent lawyers who will contribute significantly to society. Trained with the ability to contextualise legal expertise and to think across disciplines and geographical borders coupled with SMU’s interactive pedagogy, SMU’s law graduates are confident, articulate and analytically agile.
The SMU School of Law offers a four-year full-time Bachelor of Laws programme, a five-year double-degree programme which combines law with Accountancy, Business, Economics, Information Systems or Social Sciences, and a Master of Laws programme. The School has also launched a full-time graduate programme, the Juris Doctor Programme which can be completed within three years, and in some cases, accelerated for completion within two years.
For more information, please visit http://www.law.smu.edu.sg/
Jointly issued by National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University