The number of physics academic staff members increased from 15 to 23 with the formation of the Joint Campus and the subsequent merger of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University in 1980 to form the National University of Singapore. Thereafter, it further rose to 29 before the end of 1983. In 1982, Professor Lim Yung Kuo was appointed to head the department. His term of office lasted six years until he retired on 31 October 1988.
Together with the other departments of the Science Faculty, the Department of Physics moved to the Kent Ridge campus in June 1981 before the buildings were fully completed. The laboratories became operational in August 1981 and all equipment purchased under the IBRD loan were installed within the next few months.
The physics student number doubled immediately after the merger but declined slightly in the next few years. The main reason for this was that the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science had increased their student intake during this time. Over the past few years, the Department of Physics had about 250 first-year students, 120 second-year students, 90 third-year students, 30 honours students and 20 higher degree students. Starting from 1988, the department took over the running of the Computer Programming and Applications course from the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science. The number of students taking this course was approaching 700 that year.
A new subject called General Physics was introduced in 1988. This was intended as an optional course for first-year science students who do not plan to major in physics and for second-year students who have not read physics in their first year. Also the physics courses were re-structured and revised again before the 1989/1990 session began. The new course structure enabled the students to concentrate on fewer topics at a time and allowed them greater flexibility in their choice of elective courses.
The research facilities in the department had improved tremendously in the next eight years. This was largely due to the implementation of a new university policy at the beginning of the decade, which gave paramount importance to research. Research grants were generously awarded to academic staff and research scholarships were readily available to students with good honours degree for further studies. Consequently, the number of research publications by staff members also have increased greatly in recent years. Now the department publishes over 50 papers in local and international journals each year.
By 1989, the department had grown from a one-man operation to a full-fledged department with 34 academic staff and 50 technical and office staff. Since its establishment in 1928 until 1989, the department had produced about 1600 pass-degree physics graduates and over 500 graduates with honours and higher degrees. The Diamond Jubilee in 1989 marked the end of the first 60 years and also the beginning of the era of increased support for research and development (R&D) in Singapore.