University life in Singapore

[maxthecat]

How about the flexibility of higher education in Singapore?  Do they have evening and/or weekend classes for working people?  Are older students and people pursuing a mid-life career change welcome?  Here in California anybody can pursue a degree at any age, usually enrolling in a junior college the first two years and then transferring to a four year university.

[Unis]

Bachelor degrees by local unis are pursued daytime (as the students are teenagers), but Masters degrees are quite often also offered evenings / part-time.

There are a lot of companies (Thames,Informatics, Hartford, Forte-Iri etc.) offering diploma/degree courses by UK, US, Australia etc. unis and they are quite popular with working people / career changers. They are pursued by different methods (distance learning, traditional classes, e-learning, combinations).

For WONDERING - just consider it carefully! I have experience of both western and singapore unis. There is certainly good and bad things in both of these but would still opt for western uni, at least for a bachelor's degree.  

One option could be maybe that you could join your family in Singapore for a year as an exchange student (if of course accepted) in the local uni here after year or two of studies US, Australia etc.

[Wondering]

Once again,

Thanks for all the input.

I just thought about something else.

How does employment opportunities look like, if I'd decide to take a part time job? Does it even exist?
Does anyone know anything more about the Overseas Family College? Anything would be good.

Once again.
Thanks for the help.

[cs]

You should have no problem getting part time work. The most popular of this is to give tuition. Many undergrads pick up between $500 - $1,000 on the side doing this.

I used to be from NUS and am doing a part time Masters there. This is my take on things. You should go to NUS or NTU if you are keen on a serious education. The system doesn't leave a lot of room for bumming around and can be very harsh if you fail your exams. Most of the exams are open book so the idea that there is plenty of rote learning is more a myth than reality. There is also plenty of pressure as Singaporeans are by nature an ambitious, impatient pple. Many non-Singaporeans are distressed and taken aback that the Singaporean idea of study is to show up at campus at 7 am regardless of whether we have lectures for the day. We then camp in the library and don't go back till around 8 pm at nite. No one forces you to live like this but if you see all your classmates studying in this way, you understandably feel pressured because of worries of falling behind.  

If you are a good student (make it to honours and are likely to get at least a 2nd upper), you also probably wouldn't have to try very hard to get a good job. Many of the lecturers have got a good network, esp with the Singapore Civil Service or Singapore Govt linked companies. They will therefore recommend you if you show promise. The starting pay won't be very much but you will be able to gain plenty of experience. This is key as most companies in Singapore aren't keen to take fresh grads. After 3 - 5 yrs, you can then move and get your pick of pte sector jobs.    

[Nicolette]

heya 'wondering' email me if you want to know more info.
NUS is good. alot of hard work. (then again which uni isn't?) you may find it easier, being more spoonfed with the information, instead of having to spend countless hours in the library, etc digging up info.
It's not that staid & serious actually. Stay at the hostels. There are the 'wild' parties (obviously not up to the standard of the whole frat party scene though)

As for fun. Pick up at sport at uni or something, meet a couple of friends,apart from that go to the movies, sports (again) go up to malaysia, go dirt bike riding... if not it's mostly pubs/ clubs (you'll be dead broke by the end of it), do volunteer work.. but yea, agreed. it's not terribly exciting. then again - what do you do in your free time in LA? (and yes, forget about that car, cabs are cheap enough, public transport is pretty good)

AND alot of singaporeans go to australia to study because..
1) it's the closest thing to home
2) can't get into NUS/ NTU
3) due to exchange rates, etc, it's the cheapest place to go to (well NZ is cheaper, but go to melbourne for example & it's like singaporean/malaysian/indonesian kids have taken over the city)
4) some of that lateral, not the straight down and narrow, thinking may rub off on the ones who leave.

[Cathy]

How many caucasian (white) students are at the Singapore universities? Most of the replies here from grads at NUS seem to be Asian and their replies obviously come from an Asian perspective - I wonder how different it is for Western students - the thought of local students studying from 7am to 8pm (even when they don't have to go in for a lecture!) is staggering. My daughter is hoping to take a 'gap year' but she thinks she wants to go to uni in England or possibly in Oz - she likes Singapore but thinks that she would flounder and quickly get bored in NUS if the emphasis is mainly on academic study. Is there a significant number of Western students in Singapore or just a few of them - how much would she be in the minority if she chooses to go to NUS - and does anyone know if they accept students who take a 'gap year' after leaving school?        

[Unis]

I don't have a glue of statistics but you don't see a very many caucasian students in NUS campus area. The ones who are caucasian are quite often exchange students - spending a semester or two in NUS.

[Nic]

Hi Cathay, I studied at NUS as an exchange student and your daughter would definitely be a minority. There are the odd caucasian students at NUS but almost all are exchange students. If you're living in Singapore I recommend Australia. Its very close and does offer a well rounded education. The education at NUS is focused heavily upon rope learning.

[Daniel A]

Nic, what's rope learning?

[Paul N]

If you fail the test, out comes the noose...

[T2K]

I think Nic meant "rote" learning.

And most of the above seems to agree with the opinions I gained from the Singaporean NUS and NTU grads I know.  University life in Singapore is not very similar to university life in Western institutions.  Western students should be very clear of what they want and what they will get before coming here.  

As some others responded above, the idea that university is one's first foray into the real world (living on your own outside of your parents' home, paying the bills, balancing a part time job and studies and an active social life, meeting people who have different backgrounds than you, and generally facing life's challenges on your own) is not part of the concept here.  Academic excellence is the idea, and it's done very well indeed.  Just make sure you know what you are in for before you embark on a Singapore uni path, that's all I'm trying to say.

[amerikana]

to your q about what's to do here...

well, if you get a part-time job, that eats into time...
most expat kids here are into clubbing (even the ones who aren't legal yet...) so that's something to do but clubbing does get expensive...easy to blow $50++ a night. i dunno what sort of stuff you're into...there are a couple of skate parks, arcades, movie theatres etc...

after 4 1/2 years here i've perfected the art of "bumming around" (what my mom calls "looking for trouble")....just wandering around killing time. anyways, good luck.

[Wondering]

Hey Americana!

Thanks for your input. What is the Overseas school like. I've looked in to it already, and it seems somewhat ok, but it would be even better to hear from someone who attends it. IS the student body big, are the proffesors american, what are the classes like, what do they have to offer? I actually took a gap-year and am only taking a few courses at a J.C here, so I'm basicly still a Freshaman. How do you like Singapore otherwise? Would you have stayed in the States if you could have. Any imput would be great.

Thanks a lot to everyone else as well.

[amerikana]

umm, it's pretty small, less than 100 students. some of the professors are american...maybe about half american, half other nationalities (chinese, australian, dutch, singaporean, greek etc.)
they have about 3 math courses (stats, algebra/trig, calculus), various levels of bio, chem & physics, 2 freshman english courses, psych, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, asia/pacific history, mandarin, business, economics...i think i've missed a few but that should cover it for the most part. try Ruth_Pulaski@ofs.edu.sg for more info on the school.

i dunno that i would have come, given the choice, but in retrospect i guess i'm glad i did. there *are* a lot of things that i miss. it's okay, it's (for the most part) convenient to get around even without a car, as long as you can find something to do. if you don't have cash burning a hole in your pocket it can sometimes be tough to find stuff to do...otherwise it's okay. there are a lot of resort islands nearby and malaysia is, at most, an hour's drive. so it's not so bad...i've been here for five years and haven't been back to the states for almost 2 years so i'm kinda itching to go back and visit.