The College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) believes in cultivating intellectual curiosity among our students. One of our approaches is to allow students to explore and pursue interdisciplinary minors that cross the boundaries of the various disciplines.

If students find that their interests fall outside traditional divisional or school lines, HASS offers the following interdisciplinary Minors, drawing on the courses from the School of Art, Design and Media, School of Humanities, School of Social Sciences, and Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. An interdisciplinary Minor is a great option for motivated students who are looking to enrich their education experience.

• Minor in Film Studies
• Minor in Geography and Urban Planning
• Minor in Global Asia
• Minor in Science, Technology and Society

Minor in Film Studies

The Minor in Film Studies at NTU is an interdisciplinary program drawing on courses from the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS), comprising School of Art, Design and Media (ADM), School of Humanities (SoH), School of Social Sciences (SSS), and Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information (WKWSCI). Thus, Film Studies at NTU draws on the expertise and talents of faculty from across the College curriculum, offers a varied conceptual and academic focus, and a wide range of courses, ensuring students are able to work towards a coherent academic programme while simultaneously pursuing their primary degree subject. Film is an important discipline within the College, and of growing importance within Singapore and the South East Asian Region.

Overview of the Programme
What is Film? How do we understand it? How does it provoke our responses? These three questions guide our courses in film studies. Through close textual analysis (rhetorically and grammatically), we examine how film figures and displays meaning. Across the three schools students have the opportunity to approach Film Studies from a variety of approaches, including film-making, film criticism, film theory, and the history of film, and to respond to film in aesthetic, ethical and cultural contexts, among others.

Key Aspects of the Programme
The Minor in Film Studies builds on the culture of interdisciplinary learning and research at NTU and represents an important component to undergraduate studies and other HASS majors. Specifically a Minor in Film Studies enables students to:

• Develop insights into the dynamics of imaging the world
• Learn the skills to analyse film in many theoretical contexts
• Understand developments in film by studying relationships between the production, distribution, exhibition and reception of movies and their historical circumstances.
• Develop the necessary critical language to formulate responses to film
• Learn a variety of skills that will enable them to make a meaningful contribution to the arts, film and cultural industries in Singapore 

The Minor in Film Studies compliments existing degree programmes at NTU. It encourages cross-school academic work, and ultimately cross-college engagement. As well, it also allows students to pursue research into areas concerned with New Media.

Selection Criteria
All undergraduate students of HASS will be eligible to take the minor. Students must read and passed FL8001 (min grade of B) first before reading other electives in the minor basket and continue in the minor programme.

Graduation Requirements
Students wishing to take the Minor in Film Studies will need to pass the core subject AND at least four other courses from the table below.

• Peer Sathikh: School of Art, Design and Media
• Stephen Teo: Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information

Note:
WKWSCI students specialising in Broadcast and Cinema Studies (BCS) will not be allowed to use the same CS courses offered under the Minor in Film Studies to fulfill curriculum requirements under the track specialisation and the Minor progamme. If you are specialising in BCS and would also like to pursue a Minor in Film Studies, please opt for courses outside of the BCS track.

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Minor in Geography and Urban Planning

Minor in Geography and Urban Planning Coordinators
Felicity Chan: felicitychan@ntu.edu.sg
Ian Rowen: ian@ntu.edu.sg
Ye Junjia: jjye@ntu.edu.sg

Minor in Global Asia

Asia is the world’s most populous continent, with many vibrant economies. It has 48 independent countries, 6 partially recognized countries and another 6 dependencies/special administrative regions. It has the 2nd largest nominal GDP in the world, after the continent of Europe and contains 1st World as well as 3rd World countries. In particular, the continent is dominated by 3 giants, namely China, India and Indonesia. With their healthy economic growth, these 3 countries will be the driving force of Asia’s rise in the 21st century. As Singapore’s future is extremely dependent on the performance of our Asian neighbors, it is hence timely that NTU offers a new Minor programme focusing on Asian Studies and Asia’s role in the world today, in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It is hoped that the new Minor will enhance our students’ knowledge in a wide aspect of Asia, from economics to media to art history.

Overview of the Programme
By drawing upon courses offered by divisions in the School of Humanities, the School of Social Sciences, the School of Art, Design and Media and the Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information, students will engage with the social, economic, cultural, and technological aspects of Asia in the global environment and in diverse settings. The courses included cover areas of economics, psychology, sociology, English literature, philosophy, public administration, history, linguistics, media and journalism and art.  This Minor will be made available to all NTU students in Semester 1, AY2013/14.

Selection Criteria
All undergraduate students of HASS will be eligible to take the minor.

Graduation Requirements
Students will have to read 5 courses totaling at least 15 AUs in courses for this programme. They need to read ONE or TWO compulsory courses and THREE or FOUR other electives from 3 sub-groups below.

There will be a selection of compulsory and elective courses to choose from. Courses in Sub Group A are offered by the School of Humanities and the School of Social Sciences, courses in Sub Group B are offered by the School of Art, Design and Media, while those in Sub Group C are offered by the Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information.

Students will read the courses below as Unrestricted Electives (UE) and using them to double-count towards 2 Minor programmes will not be allowed.

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Minor in Science, Technology and Society

The understanding of the manifold relationships between science and society is the goal of the interdisciplinary field of “Science, Technology, and Society.” Drawing on history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, media and communication studies, and other fields, this minor will seek to introduce undergraduate students to ways of thinking about science and technology from a range of social and humanist perspectives. As a “technological” University with growing strengths in the humanities and social sciences, “Science, Technology, and Society” should form a critical part of both scientific, engineering, and social science education. Scientists and engineers need to be equipped to think about technical problems, from a range of points of view, including a social science perspective. Likewise, students of the humanities and social sciences should be able to get a better grasp of the technosciences and how they impact our lives and society.   The aim of this minor, then, is to build an intellectual bridge between the humanities, social sciences, and the natural science and engineering and to educate provide ways for all students to develop ways of thinking creatively and innovatively about science, technology, and its role in the world.  NTU is in a particularly good position to offer this minor and develop its strengths in “Science, Technology, and Society.”

Students will have to read 5 courses of at least 15 AUs in total for this programme. There will be a core compulsory course (ST9001: Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society), and four other courses from list of courses below.

The compulsory course is designed to provide students with essential knowledge under this Minor in Science, Technology and Society (STS).  In lieu of the existing prerequisites, ST9001 Introduction to Science, Technology and Society will serve as a co-requisite to all STS courses. Students who have declared their intent to read the Minor will then be able to take STS courses even if they do not have the necessary course-based prerequisites.

Students will read the courses below as Unrestricted Electives (UE), and using them to double-count towards two Minor programmes will not be allowed.

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