Student Report
Name of the University: Singapore Management University
Exchange semester: Spring 2013
Students: Petter Bringedal, Kenneth Austad, Martin Bjørnstad og Astrid Kristine Hansen
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions: ak_hansen@hotmail.com
I. PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before leaving Norway
Four months before departure, we received a Student Guide from SMU by email. This guide
explained everything we needed to know in order to complete our online application. SMU is
state of the art with respect to technology, so everything from application to course selections
are done online. The Student Guide was quite intuitive, and all the deadlines were emphasized
with red letters, so it was easy to note.
As an exchange student at SMU you have to choose four courses. SMU has a private Intranet
database, to which you will be granted permission after you have been accepted at the
university. In this database you will find all the courses offered, and associated course
information. We will recommend later students to read carefully about the courses that seem
interesting, and make a ranked list of about ten courses.
Applying for a visa
As a Norwegian citizen you do not need to have a visa in order to get entry to Singapore. But
you need as a student you will need a student visa. This is also done online on the
Singaporean Government’s webpage. You will need to fill out a form, and mail a copy of
your passport and a passport picture. Then you will have to book an appointment at the
immigration office, called the ICA. We will recommend setting the date time for this
appointment as close as possible to your arrival. When having this appointment booked, you
will only have to show up at the ICA office with a printed version of your application form,
your passport, acceptance letter from SMU and a passport picture. You will then be provided
a visa. You need this visa in order to get your student card at SMU, which serves as an access
card to the buildings at the university.
Travel
We went to Singapore in the spring term. This term starts quite early, so the university wants
students to arrive around the 25th of December. Since that would ruin the whole Christmas
celebration, we asked kindly if we could arrive at the 27th, and so we did.
We booked our tickets through Kilroy.com and Finn.no, but there are also other options as
Skyscanner etc. We will recommend later students to book their tickets far in advance, since
the price increases, as the departure date is getting closer. We paid just over 5 000 NOK for a
one way ticket. We flew from Gardermoen to Doha in Qatar, then to Singapore. The trip as a
whole lasted for about 16 hours.
Housing
SMU does not provide housing for their students. You will have to either rent a room in a
student collective, or rent an apartment in the private market. Renting in a collective saves
you quite a lot of money, but provides next to nothing in terms of facilities and comfort, and
these apartments are often located a bit out of the city. We rented an apartment on the private
market, which is quite expensive, but it’s only for four months. The residence we stayed at is
called City Square Residences, and we would really recommend students to rent an apartment
there. The apartment complex has their own gym, pool, bowling lane and BBQ, and it is
located in walking distance from downtown, as well as SMU. But again, it´s quite expensive
so prepare to share a bedroom with another person. We were four persons sharing a twobedroom apartment. We paid 1150 SGD, approximately 5 500 NOK, per month each. In
addition we had to pay gas, Internet and electricity costing around 200 SGD per month per
person. There were a lot of other exchange students who stayed there as well.
Costs
As mentioned above, housing in Singapore is quite expensive. But apart from that, you don’t
need to spend that much money on transportation, food and books. Most courses does not
have a textbook, it’s mostly Power Point slides. In terms of transportation, the MRT is really
convenient. It is an underground tube network with many stations and lines. The trains leave
every fifth minute, and you can go almost wherever you want, and it’s cheap. The
Government subsidizes the taxis, so that is really cheap as well. A regular 10 minutes taxi ride
costs about 40 NOK. In terms of food, it’s easy to find good food at food courts and get a
proper meal at about 15-20 NOK. Groceries aren’t that cheap, so it’s actually cheaper to buy
dinner at food courts than make dinner at home. Over a four-months period, we cooked dinner
at home only twice!
The nightlife in Singapore is amazing, with a lot of cool clubs. Many of these clubs are
located at the top floor of skyscrapers with a magnificent view. It’s usually no cover charge,
but drinks in the bar are quite expensive, almost the same price as back home.
Culture and language
English is the official language in Singapore and everyone in the country speaks English
perfectly well. The country is located in the middle of South East Asia, creating endless travel
opportunities. We highly recommend you to grasp this opportunity, since Singapore has
limited opportunities when it comes to cultural experiences etc.
During the semester you will definitely meet a lot of different and interesting people. You
gain a lot of knowledge about different cultures, which is very interesting.
II. ABOUT THE SCHOOL
SMU has a great campus with different faculties: i.e. Law and Accounting, Business,
Economics and Social Sciences. The campus is situated in the centre of Singapore, and you
can walk to many of the best attractions. There is a well-equipped gym, swimming pool on
the roof and a sports hall on campus. There is a couple of hundred exchange students, the
classes averages about 30 people with a maximum of 40 students per course.
Course registration
The course registration is quite easy; first there is a round where you select 4 courses. We got
all four courses we wanted even though a few of us missed out on the first round of
registration. If you`re unhappy with the courses you got in this round it’s absolutely possible
to trade courses when the semester starts. The school has a bidding system called BOSS, you
will get 100 credits to bid with and the bidding period lasts about 1 month. You will get the
information you need for the BOSS system on the orientation days when you arrive.
Academic calendar
As mentioned, we arrived in Singapore the 27th of December. First day of lectures was on the
7th of January, but we were advised to join the orientation day on the 4th of January. The week
before between our arrival date and start of lectures was used to look for an apartment and
other practical need as Student Pass and Singaporean phone numbers. Last day of classes was
3rd of April. As you can see it is as quite short semester. Examination period went from 15th of
April until the 25th of April. During the semester we had a recess week (spring break). This is
a popular week to travel with new friends around Asia.
Arrival and orientation days
Upon our arrival, we had received all needed information to “survive” our first days in
Singapore. On the 4th and 5th of January, SMU arranged orientation days. Here will you get all
further information needed for the rest of your semester. The administration and the faculty
were well prepared and very helpful.
Some of the one-year exchange students arranged a welcome-party one of the first days after
arrival. This way we got to meet the other exchange students before the lectures started.
The International Office
The International Office (IRO) will provide you with all the information you need several
months before your arrival. They will also be the first people you meet at SMU during the
reception period.
Social activities
SMU arranged several social events to make it easier for the exchange students to get to know
each other. We were also very fortunate with our choice of apartment complex. Here, we got
to know a lot of exchange students from, among others, France, Italy, Mexico and Sweden.
During the semester, several of the apartments arranged parties and gatherings before we went
to the clubs. On Facebook, there are several groups you can join to see events happening in
Singapore. This was a very popular group for all the exchange students – especially events at
the clubs. This way most exchange students ended up going to the same events. Everyone
was very outgoing and looking for new and international friends. We got to know the native
students trough lectures and several group projects. There is also a bar at the campus, were
you can meet up with your classmates and your new friends. SMU also had a lot of sport
teams, and other organizations like BI.
III. ACADEMICS
In the classroom
The classes are small and there is a lot more class participation than what we are used to in
BI. It is important to participate during the lectures, hence also important to be prepared for
your lectures. You are evaluated continuously and the final exam only accounts for about 40%
of the grade (different for each course). There are also a lot of group projects and
presentations, which means that you will get used to work with people from other nations and
cultures. We were very impressed with our professors, which had a lot of experiences.
Some courses have books, while others only depend on slides and lecture notes.
Exams
The exams usually count for about 40% of the final grade. The final grade can be divided into
assignments, group projects, presentations, games, quizzes, mid-term exams, class attendance
and final exam.
Library and technology
The library is well equipped, including three Bloomberg terminals that can be used for
research. You can book the facilities on campus, like project rooms and seminar rooms.
Description of courses
FNCE 301 – Portfolio Management
Very interesting finance course. Final grade was divided into group projects, trading game,
quizzes, final exam and class participation.
FNCE 311 – Mergers and Acquisitions
Quite difficult, but inspiring professor. Final grade was divided into one individual
assignment, group project and final exam.
MGMT 105 – Current Issues in Culture Business, Culture and Society
Quite easy course with focus on discussion in class and in writing. Final grade was divided
into three individual papers, one group project and class participation. Free lunch was
provided in this class.
OPIM 201 – Business Processes
We were required to join a course similar to logistics at BI. We got this course approved as
logistics in our Learning Agreement at BI. The course was quite easy, but taught in different
ways. As we experienced different teaching styles, the final grade was divided differently in
different classes. All of us had final exam, but some of us had games while some of us had
group projects and midterms. This depends on how your professor wants to do it.