Exchange Report


2022 Spring Exchange Program
Student: 진이기



1.NUS Introduction
NUS started out as a modest medical school with 23 students in 1905, founded by a determined group of businessmen led by Tan Jiak Kim, to serve the needs of the local community，when was fecundated in the same year with Korea university.Today, more than 100 years on, as Singapore’s flagship university, NUS continue to be in service of country and society. Learn more about our rich heritage and leaders of this institution.The National University of Singapore aspires to be a vital community of academics, researchers, staff, students and alumni working together in a spirit of innovation and enterprise for a better world.

NUS's singular focus on talent will be the cornerstone of a truly great university that is dedicated to quality education, influential research and visionary enterprise, in service of country and society.

2.Visa Process and Experience
Due to the pandemic, the policies and requirements for entering Singapore are constantly changing, so I would suggest future students pay attention to the announcement of their exchange partners and inbound countries. I went to exchange in Spring 2022 and summarized my visa application below, please feel free to use it as a reference.
Also, NUS would send the detailed guidelines for Student’s Pass application to the successful candidates via email, so do not worry about the detailed process. They would host a pre-departure webinar to give students an idea of what they need to do before entering Singapore, feel free to attend and ask any questions during the webinar.

2.1 Apply for Student’s Pass (STP)
First, you need to ensure that your international passport is valid for at least 6 months from the time of departure from your home country. A digital photograph is also needed, which should meet the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA)’s requirements as follow: 1) taken within the last three months; 2) in color taken against a white background without shadows; 3) in dimension of 400*514 pixels. Second, go to the STP Application system (would be given by NUS) and complete the eForm16. Then, after submitting eForm16, you should monitor the progress of your application via the system, the ICA would send email if they require further clarification. Finally, an In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter would be given and you need to print out this letter. This letter is important because you need to use this letter as a single-trip entry visa. The whole processing time takes me 3-4 days, but you still need to apply in advance because the processing time varies depend on different students.
The IPA letter mentioned above is the letter you need to provide when entering the Singapore. Upon arrival, you will need to report for enrolment at NUS/ICA to obtain your student pass, just like an identification card.

2.2 Apply for Entry Approval/Vaccinated Travel Pass
In addition to obtaining the Student’s Pass from the ICA, international students will also need to obtain approval from the SafeTravel Office (STO) before they commence their journey to Singapore. You will need to ensure that the student’s pass application has been approved before applying for Entry Approval. The processing time for applying Entry Approval only takes me one day, which is really fast.

2.3 Vaccination & Quarantine Policies
In addition to applying for the entry documents, I would suggest that you read the vaccination and quarantine policies before departure. There are some vaccination and quarantine requirements for Spring 2022, and the requirements are varying depends on where you are departing from. Since I departed from Mainland China, I did not need to quarantine after entering into Singapore. I put the website below, feel free to check some detailed information on these policies through the website.
https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/stpl/vaccination-requirements#documents
Overall, there are two main things that need to be prepared before departure, which are student pass/IPA letter and entry approval. The entire application process is straightforward, you just need to follow the instructions provided by NUS.

3.Cost/Expenses
For me, the cost of living in Singapore was similar with my living cost in South Korea. Visa and Mastercard can be used in Singapore, but I opened a local bank account, which can use online payments and without any service charge. I recommend bringing some cash and a global visa card, and you could open a local bank account upon arrival. I demonstrated the cost of living into several categories: rent, food, transportation, and recreation.

3.1 Rent cost per month
Exchange students can choose to live in on-campus housing or live off-campus. Due to the limited spots of on-campus housing, students who prefer to live on-campus need to apply as early as possible. Actually，my application of residence was unsuccessful at the first time in the first round.But I appeal in the next step.Final I was successful to apply for the PGPR residence. I lived in the PGP residence type C with A/C, which has a standard setting. It includes a single bed, a study table, and a closet,an air-con. Students living on the same floor need to share a public bathroom, share a public kitchen.And there are also lounge room with TV, study desk and so on.

Generally speaking, the cost of on-campus housing is usually S$480-S$850 per month, and the cost of off-campus housing is S$600-S$1300 per month. To me, living on-campus seems cheaper and more convenient.My residence was S$2500 for the whole semester. Apart from that, we need to charge S$10 per week for the air-con charge.

3.2 Food cost per month (3 meals a day)
The food in the campus is relatively cheaper than eating outside. Most food on campus canteen is around S$4-S$8. If you choose to eat outside, the price would be a little bit higher than food on campus. The open food courts called Hawker center are highly recommended, there are many cheap and delicious food from various countries. Generally, the food cost is usually S$250-S$500 per month.

3.3 Transportation cost per month
Public transportation in Singapore is quite fast and convenient. The MRT and buses provide complete coverage of the city and operate on a frequent basis. A round trip usually costs S$4-S$8. In addition, NUS provide a free internal bus system that covers the entire campus. Taxi in Singapore is relatively expensive, which would cost around S$20-S$30 for a 10-min ride. Generally, the public transportation cost is usually S$100-S$250 per month.
Overall, the total living cost is S$1,130-S$2,000 per month if living on-campus, and the living cost is S$1,500-S$2,900 per month if living off-campus.

4.In-person Academic Life
4.1 Course Selection
The NUS School of Business provides a wide range of courses, including accounting, finance, marketing, operations and business analytics, management, and strategy.
4.2 Course Registration
During the regular semester, students are required to take a minimum workload of 12MCs (approximately three courses) and should not take more than 20 MCs worth of modules (approximately five course)

5.Courses
I took four courses at NUS this semester, and all courses are taught in-person. The following are some details about these courses.
4.1 MKT3701A Marketing Strategy: Analysis and Practice
(Difficulty: 3/5 | Workload - 12 hrs)
The primary objective of this module is to acquaint students with the marketing planning and marketing management process; with a focus on Asian markets. Students are encouraged to apply marketing concepts, tools and techniques in the analysis of marketing situations and problems that are commonly faced in Asian markets and in the development of marketing strategies and programmes that are appropriate for Asian markets. Topics include the roles of planning in marketing, the reasons for planning, the pitfalls in planning, environmental analysis, market analysis, customer analysis, competitive analysis, company analysis, SWOT analysis, issue analysis, objective setting, strategy development, assembling of marketing mix, marketing implementation and control, and marketing evaluation and audit. The module is taught with a practical and applied orientation. Asian cases are used to a large extent for class discussion, supplemented by computer simulated marketing games, projects, exercises and lectures.
4.2 MKT 3702A Consumer Behaviour
(Difficulty: 3/5 | Workload - 11 hrs)
This module provides an overview of consumer behaviour theories, research, and applications. It is designed to develop knowledge and skills that will facilitate an understanding of buyer behaviour which can be integrated into the formulation of marketing strategies. This will be accomplished by surveying the social science underpinnings of consumer behaviour as well as various types of consumer research which may be valuable for specific marketing decisions. The module thus emphasises the content and logical application of theories and research in analysing consumer behaviour for solving marketing management problems.
4.3 DOS3703 Service Operations Management
(Difficulty: 4/5 | Workload - 10 hrs)
The objective of this course is to provide a comprehensive and systematic coverage of managing operations in service or service-oriented organisations such as banks, hospitals, airlines, retail outlets, restaurants and consultant agencies. Specifically, students will focus on the problems and analysis relating to the design, planning, control and improvements of service operations. Topics covered include service strategy, system design, location and layout of service systems, resource allocation, workshift scheduling, vehicular scheduling and routing, and service quality. This course is essential for students wishing to work in service or service-oriented environments.
4.4 DAO2702 Programming for Business Analytics
(Difficulty: 4/5 | Workload - 10 hrs)
Data Science involves both a theoretical foundation of Statistics and practical implementation via programming. The two are typically covered separately, but his module aims to bring theory and practice together. It starts with some Python programming fundamentals, then walks through Statistics topics from visualizing and summarizing data, to estimating model parameters and hypothesis testing, and then linear regression. For each topic, Python illustrations and experimentations are interwoven to help students better appreciate how it practically works. Completing the cycle, the module finally deals with acquiring, cleaning, and organizing data using Python. Students can then independently execute a Data Science project.
You can find more information in this website: https://nusmods.com

6.Housing
NUS provide several housing options, including student residences and halls of residence. As I mentioned before, I lived in the PGP residence, it is relatively quite close to the business school (5-min bus taking).

PGPR is the largest dormitory group in NUS. There are more than 30 blocks in the residence and there are also convenient facilities such as canteen, Self Service convenience store, basketball court, tennis court, gym, ping pong court, etc.

We have a cluster leader to help us to build our friendship in our floor, who is a senior NUS student. The cluster leader would host some meetings or games during the whole semester.If you have any question or problem for the residence, you can also ask your cluster leader.


7.Campus Facilities
The campus is really amazing! It is much larger than Korea University. I listed some campus facilities below.
7.1 Student Services Centre
The NUS Office of Student Affairs supports the NUS student community in all aspects of student life outside of the classroom, including fee payment, residential life, community engagement, student wellness, and service learning.
7.2 University Health Centre
The health center on campus is accessible to all students and staff. They provide general health support services.
7.3 Sports & Recreational Centre
This facility is also accessible for all students and staff. More information on the operating hours can be found via this website.
uci.nus.edu.sg/suu/facilities-booking/operating-hours-of-sports-facilities/
7.4 Libraries
There are several libraries on campus, and the Hon Sui Sen Memorial Library is one of the libraries widely used by business students because it located near the NUS Business School.I mostly went to central library. But notice that library close too early around like 8 pm.
(TMI: It is a nice choice to go to floor 5/6 to sit by the window. You'll be able to study while seeing the ocean view.）

7.5 Cafeterias/Canteens
NUS have a number of canteen and cafeterias that are located all around the campus. Some may be air-conditioned while others are open spaces. I usually went to the cafeteria located inside the business school and canteen in the PGPR and U-town.


8.NUS Events and Clubs
NUS has KCIG（korean culture int. Group). There are 2 sub-group included in the KCIG, KDT(KCIG Dance Team) and KCS(Korean Cultural Society). They hold different event weekly basis.And they also have groups for the buddy. But the event started after 2 or 3 weeks of the beginning of the semester. They didn’t contact with me at very beginning. That is the point they can adjust and optimize the schedule.
9.App I used in Singapore
8.1Telegram/ Whatsapp
These are the two most used social apps in Singapore. If there are group project or some school club activities, chat rooms will be set up on them.
8.2Shopee(Lazada）
I used it most to shop online. Shopee is It is an e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia. There are various product categories, including consumer electronics, home, beauty care, mother and child, apparel and fitness equipment, etc..I buy almost all my daily necessities on it.
8.2 Grab/Food panda
These two are takeaway app.
8.3Zig（ComfortDelgro）
This one is a taxi app. You can also take a taxi at Grab mentioned above. But Zig is more cost-effective overall, and the waiting time for a taxi is shorter.

10. Travelling Opportunities
Singapore is located in the middle of Southeast Asia with easy access to many countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Many exchange students have travelled to Thailand and Cambodia during reading week. With the lifting of travel restrictions, it is easy to travel to other countries.

11. Language, Food & Culture
The official language in Singapore is English. 70% of Singaporeans speak mandarin, and some of them speak Cantonese and Malay as well. The food on campus is really cheap and delicious. You can find any type of Asian food here, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai. Try as much as you can. Singapore is a country that mix Western culture and Eastern cultures, but from my perspective, Singapore culture is more similar to Asian culture. People celebrate Spring Festival and Christmas day.
12.Inspiration Words Summing Up the Experience
The four,five months in nus seemed like a dream. Thank you KUBS for giving me such a great opportunity to experience studying and living at the top one university in Asia. I have met friends from all over the world here. I learned about different cultures and opened my eyes. At the same time, I cherish the opportunity to live in Singapore. I really like this garden city. This experience may provide me with more different directions to think about in my future life. If you have the chance, I recommend you to go to nus to experience the rich exchange life.