A top scientist is leaving Singapore's best university for a very young school in China. Lu Yixin has led the chemistry department at the National University of Singapore since 2021. He will join the Eastern Institute of Technology in Ningbo in January 2027. He is the second senior academic to make this move in six weeks. Another professor left a Singapore university for the same school in August.
The move surprised many because of the two schools' very different ages. The Singapore university ranks eighth in the world, the only Asian school in the top ten. The Chinese school only received approval to grant degrees in June 2025. Reports say it currently has more teachers than undergraduate students. The case shows how strongly new Chinese schools now compete for talent.