Last modified: 2009-06-06 by ian macdonald
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![[National University of Singapore]](../images/s/sg_nus.gif)
image located by Herman Felani, 25 June 2005
Source: http://www.nus.edu.sg/centennial/celebrations/index.htm#flag
See also:
As part of the centennial celebrations of tertiary education in Singapore (with the King Edward VII Medical College established in the colony of Singapore in 1905), the National University of Singapore has finally adopted a flag for itself. The flag's image, its description and symbolism is presented at the following site: http://www.nus.edu.sg/centennial/celebrations/index.htm#flag.
The symbolism as explained on the NUS website is:
The NUS flag is a composition of the University's vibrant corporate colours of golden orange and blue, with the NUS logo emblazoned across the centre. The NUS golden orange denotes ascendancy, vibrancy and vitality while the NUS blue represents dignity, timelessness and endurance.
The main design element is the graceful sweep of a dynamic curve which rises upward and forward. The deliberate flowing movement of the arc intends to express the following visual ideas:
* The vibrancy of NUS – as the orange spreads outward and forward
* The sweep of the curve suggests the rise of a powerful wave, paralleling NUS' boldness in rising to new challenges and opportunities
* The breaking away from the straight lines and boxes of most conventional flag designs hints strongly at NUS' breaking new ground as it moves forward as a global knowledge enterprise.
The Arms of NUS were simplified to the present design as seen on the flag.
The original depiction of the Arms had the lion in its proper colours, although
I'm unsure if there are letters patent for it. There is one however for the
other university in Singapore, the Nanyang Technological University, of which
letters patent and description is presented on
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/AboutNTU/ntuidentity/Pages/CoatofArms.aspx that
says that their lion is identical to the one on NUS's.
Images and commentaries on the 'evolved' Arms of NUS are available at
http://www.nus.edu.sg/identity/intro/evolution.htm. It would probably have
been fine if NUS did as what Australia did to the Commonwealth Arms which is to
use a simplified stylised version for monochrome depiction only.
Herman Felani, 25 June 2005
I mentioned above that I was unsure if NUS had a letters patent for their
Coat of Arms. A local newspaper, the New Nation dated 4 September 1982, carried
an article about the presently used NUS Coat of Arms and there indeed was a
letters patent. An application was made by the University to the College of Arms
in England in March 1981 for a new coat of arms for the university. The
University of Singapore and Nanyang University merged to form the National
University of Singapore around this period. The process of obtaining the new
coat of arms took 17 months in all. According to the article, the College of
Arms was approached after a competition at Baharudin Vocational Institute was
unable to produce a suitable logo.
The blazon of the Arms as was granted
as quoted in the article was as follow:
Argent a lion passant guardant on a
chief azure dexter an open book also proper, bound, edged and clasped gold and
sinister three annulets one and two argent.
The lion passant guardant
represents the university as a Singapore institution. The book is a universal
symbol of knowledge. These two symbols were the charges on the coat of arms of
the former University of Singapore. The three rings/annulets was the symbol of
the former Nanyang University.
Source: New Nation, (Singapore : Singapore
Monitor Ltd.), 4 September 1982.
Before 1962, when the University of
Singapore was the University of Malaya, there was a tiger rampant regardant in
place of the lion rampant guardant in the coat of arms.
Herman Felani, 25 February 2009
A close-up of the flag can be seen at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yun-shan/26164144/ as uploaded on Flickr by "Yun-shan"
on 15 Jul 2005.
Jan Mertens, 14 March 2009