Name of the University: Singapore Management University
Exchange semester: Spring, 2012
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Singapore Management University (hereafter known as the school) is located in the middle of city centre of Singapore. With close proximity to restaurants, libraries, museums, eateries of all kinds, shopping malls and whatever you heart could desire.
The school has four different faculties including School Of Business, School of Accountancy, School of
Economics, School of Social Sciences School of Information Systems and School of Law.
The school is home to more than 7200 students. 6400 full time undergraduates and around 500 postgraduates. We were around 300 exchange students.
A bachelor degree at SMU consists of four years.
II Practical Information
Information before you left:
I received the information package 20. october.
The process was very exhausting compared to what we expected. A lot of information, pdf, colorful emails with cryptic acronyms. This was frightening and very time consuming. You should make sure to keep your mind clear.
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
The Visa Procedure was okay, but you should do it right the first time. And make sure to read the information you get immediately. If you are several persons make sure to team up. After a while the facebook group for exchangers can be helpful. Always someone asking the questions you need answered there.
We ended up paying around 800 NOK for the VISA costs
We ordered our flight tickets through Kilroy, this turned out to be very expensive. We bought flexible tickets, in order to have the option of changing the return dates. So the flight came up to almost
10000 NOK, even though we ordered way in advance. We would advise to check out on the possibility to order a one way ticket, and then ordering the ticket back separately as the flexibility is awfully costly.
Academic Calendar
We were advised to arrive in Singapore around 23 december. The latest one was allowed to arrive was
28 december. We arrived the 27 december and this worked out well. The reason they ask for you to arrive that early is because of all the paperwork and possibly the search for a condo (apartment).
The first formal school event was on the 4th January. This was the academic briefing as well as a few other matters.
Last day of classes before the exam period was 3rd April. After that reading week lasts for about ten days (different depending on your exam dates and your last classes)
The exam period lasted for about two weeks from 16 April to 25 April.

Reception
There was a reception and a exchangers welcome party early on. Some official and some unofficial, all in all a nice reception.
The administration and faculty was well prepared for our arrival.
It was possible to apply for a buddy, other than that the schools local students generally did not participate in the reception.
Housing
The are two broad possibilities for housing as an SMU exchange student in Singapore.
You can either apply for:
Commonwealth.
This is accommodation organized by the school for exchange students. The images make this look like an affordable and nice kozy alternative. Unfortunately the quality is extremely poor, at least compared to what we are used to in Norway. Another downside is the location, you will spend about 30 minutes every day commuting to the school. The great advantage by applying here is that there are a lot of other exchange students here, and there will always be someone up to do something fun. Another advantage is the price, it is about 2500 NOK a month.
The quality at Prinsep is even worse than Commonwealth, the great advantage however is the location. It is literally five minutes walk to school. This accommodation is originally for international students from
Asia, on a scholarship. This adds some nice little spice to the exchange, but the beds and rooms were extremely bad or
Go and search for a private condo
The private condos in Singapore are fairly good, compared to Norway. The prices however are quite a lot higher than Oslo. Most exchange students who chose this alternative would put two beds in two a normal sized bedroom. They would still however end up with a 4500 NOK rent a month. One of the norwegan exchange student chose this alternative, he managed to make a condo before leaving
Norway, by using facebook as a tool.
The school responded quickly to our inquiries about accommodation.
A good tip is to apply early on to Sleepy Sams or Footprints. These are the two hostels recommended by the school. You will find that almost everyone at the hostel are exchange students. An excellent start to your exchange. We didn’t see the rush in ordering hostel room that early on. So we ended up in a different hostel the first days. The name of our hostel is Five Stones Hostel, nicely located, clean and has nice staff.
Costs
Singapore is cheaper than Norway. Some expenses such as eating and different low-skilled services is a lot cheaper. As Singapore has one of the highest differences between poor and rich while as Norway is in the other end of that scale.
Rent is about the same as you pay in Oslo, but you might not get the same quality per dollar. Books and different needs for school is a lot cheaper. You could for example get nice notebooks for 5 NOK. The most expensive 1000 pages finance theory books would set you back around 250 NOK.
Travelling will also be a significant cost, as you will travel a lot around in South East asia. For around 6-
700 NOK you will be able to reach a number of one or two hour a ways destinations. Such as Bali,
Kuching, Phuket, Krabi, Vietnam, Bangkok etc.

Phone bills were about the same as in Norway. We decided to buy a seven eleven phone for about
150NOK, we filled it up with about 150 NOK in calling money. This lasted for about half of the exchange.
The nearest food court is Kopitiam, you should get a discount card here. Show your student card and say you want the discount-card, this will save you 20% on every purchase. You top it up at the machine by the entrance, no coins or change. Just amazing.
The International Office
There is an International Office the will give information by mail long time before the exchange and will also be one of the first persons you can see in the reception days.
If you have troubles of any kind it is possible to contact the International Office. The even have a 24hr nr you can call in case of emergency. You will receive this information and everything else in the first few days at The School.
Exchange promotion
We did not take part in any of this. The School does not have an exchange promoting program to attend.
However, we promoted B.I by talking to international and local students.
Social Activities
As mentioned earlier, we ended up living in different condos, which made us much more social, and we got connected to other students from around the world instead of “hanging with Norwegians” all the time.
In the beginning of the semester everyone is open and trying to get new friends, and after a while it was formed more groups, but still all the exchangers was really nice to each other.
We also got spammed with a lot of emails about joining student organizations, and those who joined were mostly happy with it. The organizations was everything from cooking to camping to moi thai. There was some exchange students parties organized by the school in the beginning and the end of the semester, but in the normal weekends you will get to know the party area called Clarke Quay, pre parties on the bridge next to it, and the all famous ladies night on Wednesdays. The ladies night is usually free cover charge for both guys and girls, and it is a good opportunity to visit some of the more high end clubs in singapore. Ku De Ta on top of the characteristic Marina Bay Sands, the helipad party at the 73 floor with
New Asia Bar and south east asia's highest bar One Altitude are some of the clubs we can recommend.
Culture and Language
In Singapore they speak English or Singlish as many people call it, which is more like english with a bit of chinese/slang words. It is easy to understand the language and talk to people in general, but there is of course some exceptions. The food court staff is usually talking very fast and sometimes not english at all, but after a while we learned to use words like “kopi o”(coffee with sugar) and “kopi c”(coffee with milk and sugar) to get what we want. To be Norwegian is not a disadvantage when it comes to language, and you will probably have one of the better pronunciations among the exchangers. Even though some people, like the french, have a strong accent, it is not a problem to understand each other at all.
To experience the most of Singapore and its culture, we can recommend one thing: get friends with some locals! They will take you to the best places to eat, help you choose what to eat, and show you their way of living. Singaporeans are a bit shy, but if you get to know them, they are really nice.
Because of all the different cultures in Singapore, there is also different parts of the country that have its special charm. You have chinatown with crowded markets and exotic goods, little india with a lot of

indian people, and at the end of the day it is nice to sit down and relax with a shisha in arab street. Maybe the best part of it all, they are less then 15 min MRT ride away from each other!
Cultural and Social Effects from the Exchange Experience
Our stay in Singapore have learned us a lot about culture and how people think and live in other parts of the world. At chinese new year the kids are getting so called hong bao ( red envelope with money) and the wish each other luck and prosperity in the future. The chinese are really concerned with prosperity, and they believe in hard work. In some Indian restaurants you can find people eating with their hand, and i t’s cool to see people practise their culture in general. Normally Singaporeans don’t move out of their parents house until they get married, and when we see families living both parents and grandparents in a condo less than 100 square meters, then we feel more lucky to be Norwegian, and start appreciating our opportunities.
Our stay in Singapore have improved our english a lot, and from our point of view it has influenced our career possibilities in a good way. To know more about other cultures are always good, and it have made it more possible to chase an international career.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The Teaching situation
All the courses in SMU are taught in English. This was not a problem overall, but it might be a bit hard to understand the different Asian accents at times. The teaching process in Singapore is different from
Norway, and you should be prepared to start working with your schoolwork from week 1. Most courses consist of lectures held by the professor, in classrooms consisting of 35-45 seats. You will be evaluated on your homework, presentations, midterms and finals exams. Since you're completing the same amount of credits in Singapore as in Norway in a shorter amount of time the work is more intense. Most professors are very friendly and helpful but don’t be prepared to be excused of missing classes because you are travelling. Class attendance and class participation is graded, and if you fail to do so you might fail the course. Most local students are very competitive and would rather not form groups with exchange students. There is graded group presentations/homework in almost every class so pick your teammates with care.
Required Literature
All literature at SMU is in English. All mandatory and extra literature can be found in the course description. All additional literature will be handed out by the professors. For some courses you might want to buy the mandatory books, but for most courses you could lend the books at the library. Most exams are based on the endless amounts of power points the professors are pouring out so study these good.
Exams
Most final exams are written and last about 2-3 hours. The exams tend to be quite hard and very theoretical, and thus requires some hours of reading only to pass. But since you have been through numerous other graded elements by the time you get to your finals, passing the course should not be a problem. Supply chain management does not have a written exam, but an online simulation game, going over two Saturdays á 6 hours. Teams of 3 enter the online simulation game, and the worst performing team fails the game.

Other
The library at SMU does not have the same standard as you are used to at BI but still quite good. During the exam period the library will be open 24/7, and very crowded. People do bring sleeping bags to the library to avoid going home during this period. We would recommend you to bring your own laptop. There is a learning platform similar to Its´learning where powerpoints and other material are distributed. The library staf f is very helpful as long as you don´t book longer than allowed. You will be fined one S$ per hour on overdue books. Courses are distributed by an online bidding system called BOSS. Spend your edollars wisely to get the courses you want.
Description of Courses
Analysis of equity investments Finance written Siv.øk
Heavy workload, with a demanding former hedge fund manager as professor. You will learn how to analyze stocks and present want you find. Be prepared to put down quite a lot of hours in this course.
Shipping business introductory economics written
Fairly easy course where you learn the basics of the shipping industry from three professors who still work in the industry. Very popular course, so don't be cheap with your e-dollars during the bidding process if you want this course.
Economic development in Asia Micro/macro economics written
Economics course where you learn about economic development with asias examples.
Supply chain management Statistics online simulation game
The equivalent to logistics at BI. Be prepared use the statistics you learned at BI. Taught by a very good but demanding professor from San Francisco.
Mandarin Nothing Oral and written final test.
Language course which is teaching the very basics of the complicated mandarin language. In the beginning the course is easy and funny, but it doesn’t take long before it turns hard and you need to put in an effort to get a good grade.