The Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (SCCL) was established at Nanyang Technological University in 2009 to promote the learning of, training in, and research on pedagogical approaches for Chinese as a second language in a bilingual environment, and especially in the education of students from non-Mandarin speaking homes.
On 17 November 2009, UniSIM and SCCL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate in the area of Chinese Language Education. As a result of the MOU, the SASS's BA Chinese Language Education Programme (BACLE) was launched in July 2011, with a first intake of 36 students.
This programme is designed to enhance the professional development of existing Chinese language teachers. Focusing on three main strands – teaching literacy, pedagogy, and professional development – it provides current Chinese language teachers and diploma holders working in Singapore's public schools with the requisite training and skills. All of the courses in this programme are presented co-operatively by UniSIM and SCCL. SCCL appoints the lecturers, all of whom have extensive teaching experience in Chinese language pedagogy.
* On 17 March 2017, SIM University (UniSIM) was renamed Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) as part of its re-structuring to become a Singapore autonomous university.