Student life – The NUS Provost Contemplates

Getting Ready for the Workplace (I) – Internships

Written by Provost's Office on April 20th, 2017. 2 Comments

For the majority of NUS students, the NUS educational journey is your final full-time educational pursuit before stepping into the working world. Our NUS degree programmes are designed to equip students with the breadth and depth of knowledge and skills for our graduates to embark on their careers. A robust disciplinary curriculum coupled with solid foundational training in the general skills of numeracy, reasoning, critical thinking, communication, personal and interpersonal effectiveness, will go a long way in equipping our graduates for their future jobs.

Beyond all that can be taught and learnt in an intellectually stimulating campus environment, it is not an exaggeration to say that there is no better way of learning about the working world, than by experiencing it first-hand. Several of our degree programmes have had integrated internships or workplace immersion programmes as part of their degree requirements for quite some time now, and with much success. Others, such as the Faculty of Engineering and School of Computing, have introduced internships for all students from the AY2014/15 cohort.

Given the learning value of internships or workplace immersion programmes, we can expect that internships will feature more prominently as part of the NUS education offering. For degree programmes with compulsory internship requirements, Departments will work closely with industry partners to design and curate workplace immersion programmes that integrate learning with training and workplace needs. Let me highlight a few examples.

In Medicine, throughout their undergraduate education, students have multiple opportunities to be fully integrated into existing healthcare teams in a clinical setting, and they learn from the teams they are attached to. Medicine students will undertake clinical rotations in Year 3 and 4, and this is considered a form of internship.

In Year 5, all final year students will go through the Student Internship Programme (SIP) as part of the course work for the MBBS programme, under which they are placed with different healthcare institutions in Singapore. The SIP comprises medicine and surgery tracks, and every student is required to complete postings in both tracks. The duration of each SIP attachment could vary from 2 to 8 weeks.

During the SIP attachments, students would be assessed on attributes such as their clinical skills, professionalism, as well as the ability to work in a team, communicate with patients and kin, and function within a healthcare institution.

At Pharmacy, all undergraduates read Professional Skills Development modules; these are practice-based, and aim to help students develop essential clinical and patient management skills. Students are assessed based on their achievement of competency in the relevant skill set. These modules will prepare them for the Pharmacy Internship and Final Year Project (FYP) in their final year of study. Year 4 students will go through two 12-week rotations in Community Care (e.g. Guardian, Unity, Watsons), and Indirect Patient Care (e.g. pharmaceutical companies, public sector regulatory bodies such as Health Sciences Authority) or Ambulatory Care (such as at community hospitals, polyclinic pharmacies). The satisfactory completion of the 24 weeks of internship can count towards the 12-month pre-registration training required by the Singapore Pharmacy Council to qualify to be a licensed pharmacist.

Apart from professional or specialised degree courses, general degree programmes are also increasingly incorporating internship stints. Take Social Work for example, which has introduced compulsory field placement. Field placement aims to provide students with the opportunity to integrate theories with practice, through the guidance of a qualified field supervisor. Students will take two compulsory 400-hours field placements during vacation time after completing Year 1 and Year 2. The emphasis for fieldwork is on the development of knowledge/skills to work with individuals, families, small groups and the community as well as within the agency context. Students apply theoretical and professional knowledge in different practice settings. They will have the opportunity to experience variety in their field practice though placements at organisations such as agencies for children & youth, agencies for older persons, agencies for the disabled, correctional settings, medical/health settings, family service centres and government organisations amongst others.

Apart from required internships, one interesting trend we have noticed is that students see the value of work experience, and they have been pursuing such opportunities on their own accord. In fact, the past few years has seen a sharp increase in the number of students pursuing voluntary internships. In AY2015/16, nearly 4,000 students went on voluntary internships.

There are also interesting initiatives by faculty members to create internship opportunities. Assoc Prof Ben Leong of the Department of Computer Science runs an informal programme for selected students through the Computing for Voluntary Welfare Organisations (CVWO) initiative, which he founded in 2007. CVWO seeks to build IT systems that help partner VWOs serve the community more effectively. Under this initiative, about 12-14 students annually would work on projects to revamp, redesign or develop computerised customer management systems for VWOs. The CVWO has worked on projects with VWOs such as The Lion Befrienders, Care Corner Counselling Centre, Fei Yue Community Services and the YMCA. Students selected to participate in the CVWO initiative will carry out projects with the CVWO for three months during the Special Term.

Students who have participated in the CVWO testify of how valuable it had been to gain work experience and to complete real projects early on in their degree journey (typically at the end of their first year). Many of them were able to land subsequent attachments with partners such as Facebook and Google.

All in all, I believe this move to create more opportunities to introduce students to the workplace and to allow students to immerse in and experience working life in an industry setting, is a positive one. It prepares you mentally, and gives you confidence to step into the working world as you make the transition from a student to an employee (or for some of you, an entrepreneur).

I would be happy to hear you relate your internship experiences.

To All New University Students, Carpe Diem

Written by Provost's Office on August 17th, 2015. 2 Comments

In many Western societies, families regard going to university as a momentous coming-of-age event. It is often the first time sons and daughters will bid farewell to the comforts of home to spend an extended time away from their families, in a completely new and exciting environment, many miles away.

In Singapore, though many students continue to live at home with their families, the entrance into university also marks the beginning of a new adventure. I want to congratulate all freshmen and women who are matriculating into our local universities. They have worked hard to earn a place and there is much to look forward to. Singapore universities offer a world-class education and a transformative experience.

At NUS, students begin their academic journey with a grade-free first semester. NUS is a large and comprehensive university, comprising 16 Faculties and Schools which offer over 50 Bachelor disciplinary degrees. The grade-free semester presents a wonderful opportunity for students to engage in intellectual exploration. Beyond one’s chosen discipline, students can read and discover other subject areas of interest, acquaint themselves with perspectives and frameworks that other disciplines employ, and pursue intellectual inquiry in a broad range of subjects. This pursuit is encouraged in the nurturing yet rigorous scaffolds of a grade-free semester, where the university maintains high standards in grading, but students who score at least a C grade may choose to include or exclude their grade in their final grade. This policy allows for a gentler transition from pre-university to NUS and it encourages all new students to take a fresh approach and to pursue their curiosity and interests without fear of adversely affecting their grades.

Some freshmen and women may find the academic culture of university life very different from their earlier school years. The demands of university are different; one is expected to engage with a much greater degree of depth, independent thinking and learning. Professors will probe and question as part of the teaching and learning process; please do not feel intimidated or personally aggrieved. Students are expected to speak out and lay down their thoughts and ideas. We do not have ten-year series. It is also fairly difficult to get private tutors to help you. Instead, students will find themselves learning through active interaction with professors and peers, inside and outside class. The grade-free semester will help freshmen and women in transitioning to this new academic culture.

For many Singaporeans, university life is also the first time one is immersed in an international setting. Every year, NUS welcomes nearly 2,000 exchange students from abroad who spend a semester living and studying alongside NUS students. These interactions with international friends from different cultures, school systems and backgrounds, whether as hall mates, project mates or classmates, broaden everyone’s perspectives and outlook. This exposure gives us an appreciation of a global working environment and develops our cross-cultural competence.

There are many advantages of being part of a large campus community. There is much life, learning and enrichment beyond the classrooms. University life is about self-directed learning, where one is not compelled, but chooses how and what we want to be part of. I urge students to partake in the rich offerings of campus life, both in the varied academic curricular options and the wide range of co-curricular activities (CCA). At NUS, for instance, there are many performing arts groups, a wide range of competitive and recreational varsity sports groups, interest groups, and over 100 clubs and student societies. There are also many student-led activities at Residential Colleges and Halls of Residence. Students will thus have many avenues to try out new interests and activities. For students who have a specific interest, connect with others on campus who share the same passion. There are also avenues for students to lead and champion a cause, perhaps within the Residential College, Hall or Faculty, or even, to seed a business idea and/or establish a start-up. CCA experiences are often fun, rewarding and the memories and friendships forged will carry on for a lifetime.

In short, a university education is what we make it out to be. Alumni of NUS who visit our campus are often awed by the facilities and wide range of opportunities that undergraduates have today, from flexible degree pathways, to cross-disciplinary studies, entrepreneurial opportunities, overseas exchange, research and residential living and learning programmes – the possibilities are innumerable. Thus, to all freshmen and women, Carpe Diem! I wish them the very best as they embark on this exciting journey.

Welcoming Ridge View Residential College

Written by Provost's Office on September 19th, 2014September 19th, 2014. 1 Comment

The University is no longer a place just for purely academic pursuits – it must also equip its students with the necessary competencies (such as intellectual liveliness, inquisitiveness, inner resilience, etc.) to ensure that they are well prepared for the global community and workplace.

This is the opportune time for me to welcome the ‘newest kid on the block’ among the Residential Colleges at NUS – Ridge View Residential College (RVRC). One of the key aims of RVRC is to conceptualise and implement a well-integrated programme to nurture future-ready graduates. The College welcomed its pioneer batch of 100 first-year undergraduates last month and along with 14 peer mentors; they have all settled into the Tower Block of the Ridge View Residences. The students come from five Faculties, namely Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Computing, School of Design and Environment, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Science. They will spend their freshmen year in this unique living-learning programme, which we hope will help them make a smooth transition into university life.

The residential colleges, halls and residences are indeed a good setting to help students discover the special qualities in each of them, while concurrently developing their intellectual capabilities. RVRC believes in harnessing its inter-disciplinary approach to curriculum to give students wide exposure to different approaches, perspectives and ideas. The modules which the College offers, along with the communal living that comes with on-campus housing, will ensure that students have a well-rounded experience in the very crucial first year at NUS.

Each student enrolled in this one-year residency programme reads three core modules – GEM1917, an inter-disciplinary as well as the anchor module focusing on sustainability; ES1601, which emphasises professional and academic communication required in the University and the workplace; and WR1401, which weaves in sports, career readiness, and experiential activities for team and personal effectiveness. These three modules are year-long and are designed to fit into each student’s core modules read within their own scope of work at their respective Faculties/Schools.

Our approach gives students the time and space to understand, dialogue with various audiences including their peers, and internalise the concepts discussed. It also allows students to develop a comprehensive appreciation of and an enriched discussion on the challenges of specific topics. Each module is taught by dedicated instructors from an extensive pool both within and outside the NUS community. GEM1917 is particularly appealing, which I suspect is partly due to the strong interest generated by ongoing debates on sustainability. Senior undergraduates have written to the College to ask if they can sign up for the module!

One of the objectives of creating residential colleges is to ‘purposefully create settings that maximise peer-to-peer learning’[i]. RVRC students can also be rest assured, knowing that the Peer Mentors (senior undergraduates who have been carefully selected to be part of the RVRC community to provide peer support to the freshmen residents) will be on-hand to guide them during the courses. Peer learning has proven to be very effective on university campuses globally and I am confident it would be useful at RVRC. Early indicators are already proving to be positive.

The other exciting development at RVRC, which I am confident will become a pull factor for RVRC, is how graduate readiness is interwoven into the RVRC programme. The RVRC team led by Professor Adekunle Adeyeye, Master of the College, firmly believes that it is never too soon to expose students to the workplace. He is hard at work, engaging industry representatives from various disciplines and fields in the College’s industry mentorship scheme and dialogue cum networking series. These individuals and firms will be important partners who will provide opportunities for the RVRC students to learn about the various industries that they can aspire to work in or consider when internships or industrial attachments places come around. This squares well with the University’s goal to intensify strategic partnerships in the long term across industry and other educational and research institutions.

As in other halls and colleges, co-academic activities are grown organically. The RVRC family is made up of a wide spread of students from accomplished musicians and creative artists to dedicated community leaders and athletes. The students have banded together to form interest groups amongst themselves to plan and organise the co-academic activities that they would be interested in. The main facilitators are the Peer Mentors. Our first-year residents have been most responsive, enthusiastic and competent in organising themselves quickly and systematically. This is heartening for the RVRC administration as these are the exact values which they had hoped to see in the students when the programme was initially mooted.

I am pleased that the College has gotten off on a positive and exciting start. Plans are in place for a major refurbishment of Ridge View Residences to further enhance the living and learning environment. In the meantime, a budding community is forming and taking root, and we look forward to seeing RVRC as a vibrant and valued Residential College at NUS.

RVRC mentors and team bonding through pottery workshop at the historic Dragon Kilns

Career Preparation Programmes – An Update

Written by Provost's Office on August 12th, 2014August 12th, 2014. 12 Comments

Two years ago, I shared about the importance of career preparation workshops, and making them as accessible and convenient for students to attend them. I thought it would be good for me to give an update on how these workshops have been progressing.

The NUS Career Centre (NCC) introduced the HeadStart Module in AY2012/13. This is a 5-week tutorial module specially designed for freshmen, and it aims to guide students in thinking and preparing for their future careers. Students can then start to plan their education journey and projects, hone their expertise and cultivate experiences to develop a portfolio in line with their career goals. The topics covered include maximising student life, winning resumes and cover letters, effective interview skills, and mastering the art of networking. HeadStart was piloted in AY2012/13 for Faculty of Science (FOS) freshmen; the module was extended to Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) freshmen in AY2013/14, and from AY2014/15, freshmen from the School of Computing (SOC), School of Design and Environment (SDE), and the Faculty of Engineering (FOE) will get to read this module. At steady state, we hope that all 5,300 freshmen from these 5 Faculties will complete the HeadStart module.

For the pilot run, nearly 1,300 FOS read the HeadStart module in AY2012/13. Participants shared honestly that they could not initially reckon why the HeadStart module was pre-allocated in their timetables. Deanery members had to prod and encourage students to attend, convince them of the benefits, and urged students to give the module a chance. Some students were sceptical; others were apprehensive. Certainly, the onus was on NCC to deliver an outstanding module, so that students can see the value of the experience.

The NCC rose well to the challenging task of organising career workshops on a large scale. The feedback received to date from course participants has been overwhelmingly positive. Participants felt that the HeadStart module has been effective (score of 5.02 out of a 6-point scale), and they are satisfied with the module (score of 4.97 out of a 6-point scale). On hindsight, having gone through the module, many understood the need for such courses; some have asked for more sessions, and some even suggested for career preparation courses to be made compulsory! NCC will continually review and improve on the HeadStart course content. NCC is also exploring how certain segments of the HeadStart programme can be put online, perhaps on IVLE, so that students beyond the 5 Faculties can also access them.

Apart from the HeadStart module for freshmen, NCC also launched the StepUp module, which is designed to help graduating students identify the careers that best align with their profiles and interests, and to equip them with essential skills to differentiate themselves in a successful transition to their first jobs. StepUp was introduced in AY2012/13 to graduating students from the 5 Faculties in their 3^rd or 4^th years. StepUp is an opt-in programme and about 30% of graduating students attended StepUp in the last two academic years. Students’ feedback for the StepUp module has also been highly positive. The StepUp module will be phased out after AY2016/17 in tandem with the expansion of HeadStart programme.

The support from NCC does not end with the HeadStart and StepUp programmes. NCC offers a suite of other more purposeful and targeted programmes and advisory support that students can attend and consult for their career preparation, throughout their time at NUS. In addition to offering career preparation and development programmes, the NCC also provides Faculty-based Career Advisors at FASS, FOE, FOS, SOC, SDE and Faculty of Law. There is also a dedicated Career Advisor for postgraduate students. Career Advisors engage students at a personal level to work out customised career action plans; they also advise students on how best to present themselves and to acquire soft skills and practical work experiences. In AY2013/14, more than 3,000 students consulted their Career Advisors for mock interviews, career advice, resume critique and job search strategies; more students are coming forward to consult with Career Advisors. If you have any questions about your CV, or about careers, feel free to make an appointment with your Career Advisors.

We certainly welcome all feedback from students who have attended the HeadStart and StepUp programmes. May I also encourage graduating students to attend the StepUp programmes. To the freshmen from the 5 Faculties, I wish you a fun and fruitful learning experience for this year’s run of the HeadStart programme.

EduSports Complex at University Town

Written by Provost's Office on January 17th, 2013January 22nd, 2013. 16 Comments

Welcome back to a new semester! I would like to wish one and all an exciting and fulfilling 2013.

As we begin a new year, I am also happy to announce the opening of a brand new facility at UTown – the EduSports Complex.

Designed as a mixed-use complex, EduSports has something for everyone. For the sports enthusiast, there is a rock climbing wall, a well-equipped gym to challenge your strength and endurance, two multipurpose sports halls with badminton and basketball courts, as well as a recreational pool.

EduSports Pix 2 — Challenge your skill and perseverance at the 15-metre high rock climbing wall (Photo by Leong Mun Wai)

If you are more inclined towards the performing arts, there are dance studios and orchestra practice rooms.

20130117_193406 NUS Wind Symphony — The NUS Wind Symphony in action at a practice room.

EduSports Pix 4 — A bookstore on campus for e-gadgets, books and more

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Flavours@UTown (food court) on level 2

EduSports also offers a range of dining choices, including a large food court overlooking Town Green, Japanese, Taiwanese and vegan food outlets. For those with a passion to read, Book Haven, stocks a range of books, magazines as well as e-reading gadgets. For students or staff looking for a space for an activity or simply a group discussion, there are seminar rooms, an auditorium and four lecture theatres, as well as open discussion spaces which you can utilise. The ground level of EduSports features a Visitors Centre, which is co-located with the NUS Office of Admissions.

The completion of the EduSports Complex brings the construction of UTown to completion. The sporting and arts dimensions offered by EduSports complement the existing educational facilities at the Education Resource Centre, bringing full circle to our vision of UTown as a pulsating hub for both academic pursuits as well as the holistic development of our students.

When we conceived of and planned for UTown, we wanted UTown to be a place that will enrich the experiences of all our staff and students. It is exciting to see how UTown is shaping up and I hope that UTown will form part of the fond memories you have of NUS.

See you around the campus and at UTown soon!