SEP- Lancaster to NUS

I can confidently say that this semester abroad has been the most inspiring, eye-opening and valuable time of my university career so far.

By: Fery Fabian Meinsen (BBA, Lancaster University)
SEP at NUS July 01 - May 02
Courtesy of Lancaster University International Office

The university as a whole is a lot bigger than Lancaster and there are three and sometimes even four internal bus routes to interconnect the different locations of the campus. Most of the students are Singaporean. However, I was overwhelmed by the great diversity and multicultural environment I encountered. A considerable amount of the NUS full time students from from the neighbouring country, Malaysia or from China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. Students live generally on campus and as an exchange student the university will usually advise you to stay in the Prince George Park (PGP) Hostel. This is one of the newest and most modern colleges on campus and at the same time, it is the place where nearly all foreign exchange students are staying, therefore it is considerably easy to socialize and mingle among other students, who are in the same position. Most of the exchange students come from countries like Scandinavia, the US, Canada, Britain and Germany.

The Business School of NUS is one of the best in Asia and has recently been awarded the best Asian-Australia MBA school by the magazine Asia Inc., for the second consecutive year. Most of the lecturers and tutors are engaged in academic research at the same time. This enables them to include the cutting edge of knowledge and findings in their course and make classes more interesting. My first impression was that generally students are very hard working and devote considerably more time to their studies than European students do. This might be due to the dominant Chinese Work Ethic, which sees hard work as a virtue. Although this might be slightly pressurizing at the beginning, it can also represent a great source of inspiration. The students can inspire you with all their motivation towards projects, their commitment towards the university and their drive to excel in whatever they are doing, may it be socially or professionally. All this allows the institution to offer an outstandingly high standard of learning in its educational environment.

From a social point of view, life at NUS is again very different from Lancaster. Students usually meet and get to know each other in societies, university organizations, group work or just in class. College and inter-university activities play a great role among the students and usually are seen as the base for socials or get-togethers. Bars and clubs can only be found off-campus because of university policy. This is not a big issue because students go to surrounding bars or to clubs in the city centre.

Finally, I can confidently say that this semester abroad has been the most inspiring, eye-opening and valuable time of my university career so far. I not only enjoyed the time there because of the studies I went through, the people I got to know and the amazing culture I was able to experience, but also because this period definitely broadened my mind and personal awareness.