Experience report
ANR: 535102
Name: Marc van Huet
E-mail: vanhuet.marc@gmail.com
Exchange semester: Fall
Academic year: 2014-2015
Host University: Singapore Management University
Country: Singapore
Admission, arrival, housing
As future Singapore Management University
(SMU) student you get several information
packages from them before you arrive in
Singapore about housing and admission. If
you read and follow up this information, it is
easy to meet your obligations in the
Netherlands and the first weeks in Singapore.
However, SMU will not arrange any housing
for exchange students which is in my opinion
not a problem. I arrived, four days before the
latest day of arrival, on the 2nd of August in
Singapore, slept one night in an hotel to
recover from the journey and went to hostel
Green Kiwi Bugis (right picture). On a
Green Kiwi Bugis in Arab District
Facebook page with all the exchange
students of the semester, made by SMU, decided most students to stay in this hostel to meet other
students and arrange together a place to live. I met already lots of students overthere and seven of
them became my roommates. SMU provided us a list with good agents who could help us with the
search for apartments. We arrange an apartment in City Square Residences (pictures below) which is
a Condor in downtown Singapore close to the 24/7 shopping mall Mustafa and Little India. It is important
to negotiate quite a lot with the agents about the rent and the fees since you can save a lot money with
that. We saved together in the 4 months 2880 euro by negotiating. The travel time from our apartment
to the University by bus or MRT (The metro system of Singapore) was max 20 minutes.
Before or on the latest day of arrival, 6 August, we had to go to the immigration office to collect our
Student Pass. This took around 4 hours when you made an appointment and can take a whole day if
you forget to make an appointment. Soon after collecting our Student Pass, we had to go to the
University to collect our University Pass and three hours of introduction spread over two days. This
introduction was usefull to see what the University offers for exchange students in terms of library
services but also sport facilities and wellness. After two and an half week of sightseeing and partying in
Singapore which felt like vacaction started the semester on August 18.
City Square Residences:
Location of university
The SMU is located in the middle of Downtown
Singapore but the campus looks like a park (picture
right). This is possible since all the facilities except the
classrooms in the different buildings are under the
ground and all the buildings are linked with eachother
under the ground which is very comfortable during rain
and hot days. The gym at SMU is also the best
location to sport since it is free for exchange students.
SMU has their own food court, around 15 small
restaurants in one big restaurant with food from all
SMU-Campus
around the world so it satisfies everybodies needs.
However if I have to recommend a place to eat, I would
recommend Makansutra Gluttons Bay since it is also a foodcourt with many small restaurants but the
view on Marina Bay Sands and Business District is in the evening amazing. If you want to have so
drinks with your friends I would recommend Sticky Fingers or Ice Cold Beer. Both bars are in
comparison cheap and Ice Cold Beer is also located on the campus of SMU. For clubbing in the
evenings there is a district named Clare Quay with lots of clubs, the most intresting ones in my opinion
are Atica, Fclub, Zouk, Highlander and the Pumproom. Besides Clare Quay there are several high
standard places where SingaporeUni, the eventorganization for exchange students, organizes some
parties: Kyo, Avalon, 1-Altitude, me@oue and Pangea. To finish the drink and dance part, I would
recommend everybody to go once to Ku De Ta to see the view from the rooftopbar of Marina Bay Sands
and Raffles Hotel to drink the original Singapore Sling. Other things you should visit in Singapore are
the Singapore Flyer, Bothanic Gardens, Gardens by the Bay, Orchard Road, Sentosa, Chinatown,
Pulau Ubin and the Nightsafari. In September is Singapore always hosting the Formula 1 which is in
my opinion a must see and at the end of the year the club Zouk is organizing ZoukOut with the top
dance DJs of the world so that is a
great way to end your exchanges.
After reading this all you can imagine
that
the
differences
between
Singapore and Tilburg are huge. It is
in my opinion from a big village, the
way how Tilburg feels to me, to one
of the biggest cities in Asia. However
it is the most western city in Asia
which in sense of development looks
a lot like Europe and Singapore is in
some points even far ahead of
View from me@oue on Marina Bay Sands
Europe.
Academics
I took four courses at SMU, since one course at SMU is equal to 7.5 ETCS. A short enumeration of my
courses:
-
Managing Process Improvement
Enterprise Development
Entrepreneurial Finance
Family Business Management
I chose these courses since I’m interested in developing and improving things so that suits the first two
courses. I chose the other two cause in the future I want to start my own business and I maybe want to
involve several family members in my company. If I have to recommend one course I would recommend
Managing Process Improvement since you gain a Six Sigma Green Belt degree if you pass the course
and it is a great opportunity to work with locals in a local company. Be aware this course will consume
time. However in my opinion it is worth it and I still had time to travel a lot in the surroundings. These
courses helped me developing myself in the subjects which I find really interesting and since the classes
at SMU are in smaller groups, max 45, the courses are very interactive so you learn more. The workload
at SMU is higher in comparison to Tilburg University but the level is in my opinion a bit lower. The level
of English is higher since it is the first language of Singapore is English. At the end I passed all the
courses with an average just below an 8 so I’m really glad with my academic experience at SMU.
Social life
As earlier mentioned, SingaporeUni organized many activities for exchange students in Singapore. I
became a student ambassador for their organization which meant that I promoted their events and
helped with organizing their event. In return I could enter and drink for free in the clubs. Every week
there were several events so due to this events, the gathering in the beginning in the hostel and the
small campus it was easy to stay in contact with lots of exchange students and since you share the
same experience the connection is easily made. So you arrive alone and leave with many friends all
around the world! Besides the other exchange students, I met a few local students in my classes. There
were in every course at least one and most of the times two group projects so you had to work together
with local students. Which is in my opinion very good to get the complete exchange experience cause
if you chose to work only with other exchange students it is not really an exchange with Singapore. The
local students were quite lay back, sometimes a bit to much according their time management but once
you started to work on a project the work really hard.
Besides Singapore I visited some other countries in
Asia. During a few weekends I visited Bintam (A
close island of Indonesia), Bali, Bangkok and Hong
Kong. Besides that we had one week off during the
semester, this week I used to make a round trip in
Myanmar, the most untouched and beautifull
country I have seen and after the semester we went
to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The trip in
Vietnam is the one I like the most since it was shortly
after the semester with 28 exchange students from
SMU arrange by ourselves to finish the semester.
Living costs
The costs of living are except of the food quite high in Singapore in comparison with Tilburg. I financed
my exchange with the normal grand from DUO, a small support of my parents and mainly my savings.
Since Singapore is outside Europe, you will not receive the Erasmus grand during your exchange.
During my exchanges I spend the most money on living and trips around Asia, in the case I was not an
ambassador of SingaporeUni I should have add going out as well cause it is really expensive for guys.
Eventhough I would recommend everybody to do the same, work hard before and after you exchange
so you can affort it to spend money on all the great they offer you during your exchange. I spend every
month, taking in account 5 months, on average €2100 which includes also the flight to Singapore and
all the trips.
Subject
Housing
Textbooks and software
Application Fee SMU
Food
Public Transport
Going out; Clubbing and bars
Visa Application for Trips
Trips (Planes – Activities – Hotels)
Events (Formula 1 – ZoukOut)
Additional Costs
Expenses
€ 620
€ 50
€ 60
€ 300
€ 40
€ 60
€ 40
€ 750
€ 110
€ 180
Culture
On arrival there was actually no culture shock or any situation in which I had any problems with other
cultures. The only thing I noticed that the North-European countries are way more punctual then all the
other people around the world which causes quite much waiting time. In comparison with the
Netherlands, Singaporeans are less direct, less punctual, more individuals and it is more about the
money and showing what you have. However the strict hand of the government in the society is not that
bad in my opinion. The citizens are honest, crime almost never occurs and the city is clean. Besides
that are Singaporeans always interested in your story and willing to help, even on one of my trips in
Cambodia I met a business man and soon I noticed he was from Singapore. He warned me about things
he had experienced in Cambodia so business relations are easy made. All the countries I visited are
less developed then Singapore. However all the countries had a food culture, everywhere they sell food,
spices and drinks.
Personal development
Since SMU only provided us some information about the
arrival, the learning process started immediately. I learned to
arrange an apartment and all the things besides it like
electricity. But after that I learned way more from all the
people around me, I worked with SingaporeUni so I know
what you need to organize hugh parties for 1000+ students,
I worked with Louis Vuitton for my Green Belt where I could
develop myself in several ways at lastly dealing with the
differences between people everywhere, at SMU, at home
and in all the surrounding countries. I did not want to miss
any single part of the whole exchange, I had the time of my
life and I would not change anything. Luckaly I can not think
of a worst experience and is my best experience hard to
choose. I would say that the whole periode is the best
experience I ever had. The most important lesson which I
learned during exchange is that you should grab every
change to see and enjoy different places all around the world!
So I will soon start with traveling around Europe to see all my
friends from Singapore again and to see their countries.
Organizing a party with
SingaporeUni at Avalon
Tips for future students
I can give future students one big tip: Go to Singapore and choose the Singapore Management
University! Singapore since it has great living conditions and SMU’s courses are interesting, worth going
and usefull. Besides that the location of SMU is ten times better in comparison to NTU and NUS cause
those universities are located close to the boarder with Malaysia which is by public transport almost one
and an half hour. To be honest, I missed only one thing during my time in Singapore: real Dutch cheese.
Everything else you can buy in the hugh shopping malls. To prepare yourself for Singapore is nothing
special needed, except the complementary things from Tilburg University and Singapore Management
University. If you want to travel around South-East Asia it is smart to bring some Malaria pills, get some
vactinations from the GGD and lastly bring some passport pictures for your visa’s in their countries.
I hope I give with this report you as future exchange student an impression of Singapore, Singapore
Management University and all the other things which I faced during my exchange. If you want to talk
with me about one of these things do not hesitate to contact me, I am willing to help!
Make a good decision, choose Singapore!
Best regards,
Marc van Huet
vanhuet.marc@gmail.com
Tel.nr. 06-22586049
In addition on the next pages some pictures of Singapore and surrounding countries.
SINGAPORE
ZoukOut 2014
National Stadium Singapore
Formula 1
Clarke Quay
SMU Campus
View from Marina Bay Sands
Bali, Indonesia
Bintam, Indonesia
Bangkok, Thailand
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Hong Kong
Mui Ne, Vietnam
Myanmar (Yangon – Bagan – Inle Lake)