1. 파견교 지원절차

The first step is to attend the Exchange Program orientation, which will give you lots of information about the whole exchange process such as required documents, fees, visa application process, etc. The second step is to prepare all the necessary documents for admission and visa such as dormitory application, course registration, passport photo and so on. The whole process could be a little bit complicated, but instructors from KU and NUS will guide you how to do this from the beginning to the end. In the case of dormitory application, it is possible that you may not be assigned a room that you apply for. For example, I applied for dormitory in Utown at the beginning, but I was assigned to PGPR, and some of my friends even failed to live in campus due to lack of vacancies of the rooms. 

2. 비자 준비과정

For the visa application, you can go through the whole process via online. The first step is to fill out the Visa application form and pay the application fee. After the application & payment is confirmed, you will get an ICA Letter via email. You need to print out the ICA letter because it is your One-time Visa to enter Singapore, after that, you can get your Student Pass in NUS. For the Student Pass application, passport photo, the offer from NUS and other documents would be needed. One thing to notice is that you are not allowed to leave Singapore or travel to other countries until getting your Student Pass because you are not able to come back Singapore again. But it only will take one week to receive your Student Pass, so do not worry about that so much.

3. 학교 크기, 지리적 위치, 주변 환경, 현지 날씨 등

The NUS campus is very huge, for the student’s convenience, there will be lots of shuttle buses in school. You can download an App called “NUS NextBus” to check the route and time to make sure you will not miss it. I lived in PGPR, one of the student hostels in NUS, there are three cafeterias and one small mart nearby. The good thing of living in PGPR is close to the subway station, it only takes 5 to 10 minutes to walk there. However, I still strongly recommend you apply for the dormitories in Utown because the environment and facilities are much better than PGPR. For example, there is very huge gym and swimming pool as well as Starbucks, several food courts, beauty salon, waxing shop over there. If you are tired of staying in campus, the nearest place for you to hangout is called Holland village, which is a good place to get together with friends because there are many cafes, restaurants, pubs and shops over there. My exchange period was from January to May, it was the rainy season in Singapore, the rain comes very fast but goes fast as well, do prepare an umbellar with you all the time. 

4. 수업 (수강신청, 수업 진행 방법 등)

For the course registration, there will be several rounds. The first round was done in Korea by NUS Education Records System (EduRec), you can apply for the courses you want to take in this round. The second round will begin before the school starts, you can drop and add more courses in a certain period. The third round is for students who cannot get the courses they want or intend to drop them. In this section, you may need to write about some reasons why you really need to take or drop the courses. One important thing to notice is that one period is for regular class registration(lecture), one is for Tutorial class registration. The form of tutorial class is various according to different courses, some are for practice what you have learnt in the course, some are for term projects. In general, the courses were not very difficult. If you take business course in NUS, the most common teaching method is Case Study. There will be many reading materials assigned to you and you need to discuss them in the class. In the class, you may need to participate a lot because it takes account for 20%~ 30% of your grade, so it would be better to prepare your question or opinion in advance. 

5. 숙소 (기숙사 신청, 기숙사 시설, 외부 숙소 정보 등) 및 식사

NUS will provide dormitory to exchange students but not 100% guarantee. The whole process is easy and quick, fill out some basic information and choose the room type you want to apply for. The result will be out after one or two weeks and changes can be made after that. The most popular dormitory is Utown due to its environment and facilities. There are plenty of restaurants to choose, including western food, Chinese food and Korean food. Further, it is very close to Sport Center which include gym, swimming pool, basketball court, etc. One drawback of living in Utown is it is far from subway station and business school, you need to take shuttle bus or Grab (Uber in Singapore) all the time. Another popular dormitory is PGPR, I used to live in Type A (with private washroom and AC), but I moved to Type B due to Covid-19 situation. It is less convenient than Utown, there are only a few food courts and a small mart in PGPR. But the good thing about living in PGPR is it is very close to the subway station and business school!

6. 학교 관련 기타 정보 (부대시설, 동아리, 교환학생을 위한 프로그램 등)

Subsidiary facilities: There are many exercise facilities in NUS campus such as fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, tennis court, etc. The most important thing is it is all free for NUS students. There are several libraries and study rooms in the campus, the most common place I go is Mac Room in Utown. Activities for exchange students: There are many activities for exchange students such as welcome party, Short Tour of Singapore and some cultural exchange activities. The first activities I took is called coffee catch-up which was all the exchange students will gather around in a coffee shop to know about each other and meet new friends. Another activity I attend was held by KCS, a club for NUS students interested in Korean culture such as Korean drama, K-Pop, etc. There will be a party every week like playing games, eating fired chicken and so on. 

7. 기타

Campus Life As the top university in Singapore, NUS very cares about its students ‘all-around development, therefore, as I mentioned above, there are many exercise facilities as well as libraries, restaurants, etc. in the campus. What’s more, NUS will hold different kinds of activities every week such as seminar, Yoga class, hiking, performing shows and so on. Academic Most of the professors in NUS are from the top university around the world, they are intelligent, humorous and very nice to exchange students. If you have any question or disagreement, they welcome to discuss with them. In the case of the lecture, there are a few things that are quite different from KU: 1. The class time is long. It takes about 3 hours for one class (business course). 2. Half of the class time is discussion. Professors only take 30 minutes to lecture and the rest of the time is for students to discuss about the case that assigned for you to read before class. 3. Independent critical thinking is important. Professors care about your own opinion more than the correct answer, they will ask you to explain an concept or framework in your own words or to write an critical paper, therefore, if you want to do well in class, it is necessary for you to practice critical thinking skill. People People in Singapore are very nice to foreigners, most of them can speck both English and Chinese. Students in NUS are smart and diligent, they also very care about study-life balance. They enjoy getting around with friends like jogging, watching movies or playing games together. 

8. 교환학생 프로그램 관련 전반적인 의견

Overall, exchanging to NUS is one of the best experiences in my life. I have learnt a lot and met many amazing and cute friends during this period. Unfortunately, I missed out many great activities and did not travel to many places due to the Covid-19 situation. Despite of that, it had been a great experience for me!!