NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE S2015 (361626)
If you’re considering whether to spend a semester abroad, you should do it! If you are
considering NUS as an exchange university, go for it! If you already have been selected,
congratulations! Start preparing yourself for the time of your life.
This report will cover some of the main things. It can’t cover anything and of course, things can
also change. Wherever you’re going, prepare yourself well and ask things from other people
with more experience. However, the exchange time will be better than you ever could have
imagined!
WHY NUS?
NUS is a top university, no question. For example in 2014, NUS ranked 1st in Asia and 22nd in
the world in the QS rankings. Grab the opportunity to get a top school to your CV.
The education quality is good. On business courses, usually the maximum group size is 45
students. Professors are very dedicated.
The default language is English. This makes things simple for you. Everything is accessible and
you’ll never be the outsider because of the language.
The campus is exclusive. The campus is like a small international city and you actually don’t
know whether you are in Asia or in the US. The campus has all the facilities you need and in
addition, majority of the exchangers get campus accommodation at a very reasonable price.
WHY SINGAPORE?
Singapore is probably the most western country in Asia. Good or not? It’s a melting pot of
different countries and cultures, in a sense no man’s land and easy to approach. If you for
example intend to travel a lot, Singapore feels very home and like a safe harbor after your
journeys. It’s an effective society where you can trust that everything will work.
Geographically Singapore lies about one degree north of the equator. The climate is hot and
humid, always. If you happen to check the weather forecast for Singapore, chill out. Even
though it shows only rain and thunderstorms, the usual weather is sunny or slightly cloudy
around 30 degrees Celsius or more, with a short rain or thunderstorm in the afternoon.
Culturally Singapore is a mixture. You can feel the Asia, but on the other hand compared to
other Asian countries the atmosphere is very Western. About 60 % of the residents are
citizens, the rest are permanent residents from all over the world. The majority of people in
the streets have Chinese roots, though. There are four official languages, English, Malay,
Mandarin, and Tamil.
A fine country. Some consider Singapore as a country of only rules and regulations. Personally,
this issue didn’t disturb me at all. On the contrary, I enjoyed the cleanliness and effectiveness.
In the daily life you actually don’t even recognize the rules, majority of the forbidden things are
things you wouldn’t do otherwise either. Why would you need to spit on the street?
THE APPLICATION PROCESS AND LIFE AT NUS
Around six months before your semester will start you’ll start getting emails from NUS.
Singaporeans LOVE long, bureaucratic emails. Despite how time consuming and sometimes
frustrating it can be, it’s better to read all of them carefully.
You will get so many emails that at some point you might go hayward. One good option is to
print all the emails and attached files and go them through with a pen so that you can mark
the important days and deadlines. Singaporeans are very used to the bureaucracy and the
deadlines are quite so avoid extra mess and stay inside the given time limit. When the email
comes, better to react quite quickly. For example for the housing application you will only have
3-5 days to complete it.
When you get to Singapore they will ask for many many hardcopies. So, even though it’s waste
of paper, follow the guidelines of bringing hardcopies (and to be sure, every single time you
pay something print a receipt).
The visa application process is extremely well organized at NUS. The ICA officers will come to
NUS, thus there’s no need to book an appointment at the office. You are required to bring
passport photos, but actually it’s waste of money to take them in Finland. Most likely they
won’t accept the Finnish ones (there is a different Singaporean standard). During the VISA
process, there will be an opportunity to take the photos on campus with a much cheaper cost.
ACCOMMODATION
Campus accommodation is a big benefit (and once again makes things simple for you). The
price for the whole semester is very reasonable (1200-1400 €) considering that market rents in
Singapore are higher than in Finland.
Majority of the students apply for the UTown Residence but not everyone will fit there. Earlier
most of the exchangers got the room from UTown but Spring 2015 something changed. Many
of us ended up at PGP (Prince George’s Park Residence).
This was a huge disappointment since the UTown Residence is new and flashy. But, if you get
the room from PGP don’t panic. Life turned out to be quite nice there actually. In a sense
everyone lives alone since everyone has their own door to the corridor. Yes, toilets are old
(and sometimes also dirty). However, they are making some renovations at the moment and
for example kitchen renovations are under process.
In addition, PGP has better location. You can walk to the business school (instead of taking the
campus bus) and you can also easily walk to Kent Ridge MRT station. There is a small mall in
Kent Ridge as well.
UTown has better food courts, the gym and the pool. That is absolutely true. But even though
on the first day at PGP I wanted to cry, I ended up (even to my own surprise) enjoying life
there and at least we had an extremely good team spirit right from the beginning and I made
many friends. Living on the campus with all friends will be an experience as well!
WHILE PREPARING FOR THE EXCHANGE
Vaccination programs must be started 6 months before you leave. I made sure that I had
Hepatitis A & B, Tetanus and Typhoid. Japanese encephalitis is recommended by YTHS, but on
the other hand Diacor gave instructions that unless I intend to go to jungles and outside urban
area, I should be fine. I didn’t take it – neither did majority of the people I discussed with. You
don’t need Malaria medication for Singapore, but if you plan travelling to Malaria areas you
may want to consider it. You can either bring the medication from Finland or buy it from Asia.
Flight tickets will be one of your biggest expenses. Finnair has direct flights to Singapore.
However, I flied with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul and can only warmly recommend. I bought
round trip tickets already in August. Big benefits with Turkish are that 30 kg luggage is included
(Finnair Nuorisolippu should have 2 x 20 kg, though), the terms and conditions for changing
the return flight are extremely flexible (you can even change the city you fly back from, not
possible with Finnair) and the planes and service are excellent. Of course you must check the
details when you are booking the tickets and I take no responsibility if the airlines change their
policies, but don’t hesitate to fly with Turkish Airlines.
Planning the exact dates can be a little bit challenging but the semester will be pretty much
the same as in Aalto. Our orientation day was Friday 7th January and school officially started
12th January. If you manage to get non-exam courses with no examination after the reading
week, your school will finish in mid-April (Fall semester is shorter). Of course it’s also possible
to buy a one-way ticket, but on the other hand you can get a good round-trip deal and with the
right airline you will also be able to change the return date.
COURSES
All courses I took were 4 credit undergraduate courses. The workload was equal to Aalto’s 6
credit courses, so with five courses I completed the minor for my Bachelor’s studies.
The course selection process in general felt quite messy and stressful. But here’s the tip: do
not stress too much. Instead, be patient but determinant.
You will get an email in the fall (or spring) where is a list of courses you can take. This email will
include links where you can find more information about the courses and the course outlines.
You may also find this information from NUS website already before the email.
When the list of the courses available for exchangers comes, start planning what courses you
would like to get and pick up also a few plan B options. Apply then for the courses you want.
As the Finnish idiom goes, carefully planned is half done. If you want to optimize your
timetable, try building your schedule on http://nusmods.com. Some of the courses may also
have different options like A, B, C and basically it’s the same course taught by different
professors. Don’t stress too much about the difference between professors.
When the results come, most likely you didn’t get (at least all of) the courses you wanted. But
don’t worry, things will solve out when you get to Singapore and the add/drop period starts.
The thing just is that if you are well prepared and you already know what courses and which
groups you want, your course hunt will become a LOT easier. I managed to get my courses so
that I had school only on Mondays and Tuesdays.
All of the courses I took were
marketing or management courses.
They weren’t difficult, but included
quite many assignments already right
from the beginning of the semester.
None of these courses had an exam
after the reading week, so my school
finished already in mid-April. If you
want to get non-exam courses, find
out with the timetable builder which
courses hasn’t got a venue scheduled
for the exam. They should also
appear as “non-exam courses” even
though an in-class quiz is possible.
MKT2401A ASIAN MARKETS AND MARKETING MANAGEMENT
This course was taught by Professor Yan Zhang. The workload was average or even low,
consisting of two individual one-pagers, two group exercises and final quiz. In general, this
course was quite boring. The content would have had potential to be interesting, but
unfortunately the lecturer wasn’t very inspiring. The subjects handled on the lectures didn’t
quite respond the level of the assignments either.
MKT3402C CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
This course was taught by Professor Leonard Lee. He was very dedicated to this course and
ensured that we also learnt something (a lot). He kept very inspiring, interactive lectures. This
was probably the most challenging of my courses. On this course we made a big group project
for the Singaporean department store BHG. In addition, there were 4 individual one-pagers or
mini cases. This course also had a final quiz, which was extremely (and surprisingly) difficult. I
didn’t mind about the challenging final quiz, but felt a little sorry for those who wanted an A+.
However, the grading of individual assignments was quite generous yet the final grade for the
course then again wasn’t.
MNO2007 LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
This course was taught by Professor William Koh. He was a funny old man with a lot of life
experience. It was interesting to listen to him. This course was characterized by a one-pager
we had to return every week. However, the preparation of the one-pager didn’t take too long
and in my opinion it was a good way to keep everyone involved. In addition, we had a pair
exercise and a group presentation. So all in all, there was quite many papers to return but
since I enjoyed the course and liked the professor (he also helped me to get the course) it
didn’t feel heavy. At the end of the semester there was also a quiz.
MNO2302 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
This course was taught by Professor Wu Pei Chuan. She was a nice lady. The course in general
and the workload were quite average, consisting of two group presentations and two
individual (5 page) reports. The topic is quite “soft” (and so was the teaching style) but there
were still useful things on the lectures and the course material provided. Most likely this is a
harmless course to add to your timetable.
MNO3303 ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
This course was taught by Professor Heeyon Kim, a big hand to her. She is a young, inspiring
professor who (thanks to her years spent in the US) speaks perfect English. Every lecture
consisted of a presentation (made by groups) and an interactive lecture part. On this course
we had two group presentations, one individual assignments and a final quiz. Overall this
course was a positive experience.
FREE TIME AND THINGS TO DO
Singapore provides the perfect gateway for travelling and discovering Asia. Changi Airport is an
effective airport you’ll reach easily with the MRT. Distances from Singapore the Southeast
destinations are short and in addition, there are good connections for all other Asian
destinations as well.
Travelling. During the spring I travelled twice to Thailand
(altogether 13 days), twice to Vietnam (altogether 16 days),
Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. If
you manage to get good courses (good schedule) and you
start doing your assignments effectively right from the
beginning of the semester, you’ll have plenty of time for
travelling in between as well. Ticket prices are very
reasonable (except around Chinese New Year). If you want to
travel during the CNY holiday, don’t leave the ticket decisions
for the last minute.
Hobbies in Singapore. If you have hobbies or are interested in
something special, there are many clubs at NUS as well. In
addition, there are very good sports facilities on campus. You
can find more information on NUS website. Join the Facebook groups for exchangers , such as
NUS Exchange Students 201x and NUS Exchanger (commercial).
Food & restaurants. Singapore is a food heaven.
The Asian food in food courts is cheap, Western
food in restaurants is usually slightly cheaper
than in Finland, on the other hand alcohol can
be more expensive. Food at grocery stores is not
cheap, but when you find the right stores you
can buy pretty much anything. If you are a food
fanatic, check out the Lady Ironchef blog
http://www.ladyironchef.com/.
Good restaurant tips (for Western food) are for
example Jones the Grocer in Dempsey Hill, Wine Connection at Robertson Quay and Cedar Grill
(Lebanese) at Boat Quay. These areas have other nice restaurants as well, in addition you
definitely should check out the Holland Village area and Club Street. If you want to have a good
Singaporean meal (including for example Chilli Crab), gather a group of 5-10 people and go to
Mellben Seafood.
Partying. Singaporeans love clubbing. There are many
clubs and rooftop bars but not that many small and
cozy bars, though you can find different from Club
Street and Cross Street as well as the Clarke Quay area
for example. Alcohol is expensive in Singapore, but go
and check for example the Giant grocery store for
good discounts. When travelling, you can also bring
some from the airport.
SOME THOUGHTS CONSIDERING PACKING
First thing. Do NOT pack too much. You’ll survive with surprisingly little. And for Singapore, no
need for warm clothes. It’s endless summer, usually the temperature stays above 30 degree
Celsius.
A few exceptions: Guys, you’ll need long trousers for bars and clubs. No shorts, the dress code
is pretty much always smart casual. Local students also like to dress up for presentations…
Another thing is that Singaporeans LOVE air conditioning, so inside the buildings and especially
long days in lecture theatres can be quite cool. As the last tip, if you intend to travel for
example to China or Japan, the temperatures are quite equal to Finland.
It may cost, but you can buy pretty much everything. In Singapore you can buy almost
anything. It might be pricey, but no stress, Singapore is definitely not a periphery. Almost
everything is available (even though especially Western trademarks are generally more
expensive in Asia). I personally brought majority of the things from home, but if you for
example have travel plans before your exchange starts and don’t want to hop around with a
big piece of luggage, buy it from there then.
FINAL COMMENTS
Singapore is a great place! There might not be that many sightseeings or so, but it’s a super
place to live and I promise you will enjoy your time there! NUS is a world class institution and
there will be hundreds of exchangers from all over the world. Your exchange will become one
of the best 5 months in your life and definitely leave a memory that lasts.
Wherever you go (Singapore or somewhere else), GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY!