It is now possible to have thought-provoking discussions in a casual setting without the stress of taking examinations and gaining class participation marks.

The NUS Students’ Cultural Salon is a new society founded by five students aimed at doing away with the usual stuffiness of university seminars and the formalities of debating techniques while promoting spontaneous discussion between students and invited guest speakers.

The first session on “Confucianism” by Associate Provost and Professor of Chinese Philosophy, Alan Chan, was held on Sept. 4 at Yusof Ishak House function room and attended by about 20 students.

Hu Yingtuo, founding member and third-year engineering student, said he got the idea of setting up his own cultural salon after attending one session on British modern history held by visiting professors and scholars from China “at someone’s house” last semester.

Hu said, “That was the first point of my inspiration, because it was very impressive and the setting was very cosy and very casual.”

He also said he understood the attractiveness of such a salon for students to have quality interaction compared to the usual day-to-day topics.

Li Yang, founding member and third-year engineering student, said “We find that it’s very interesting to have such a group in NUS and it’ll be generally beneficial for the students who are interested.”

He also said the lack of such a society within NUS was also a motivation to start one. And there are plans for NUS Students’ Cultural Salon to be an official Co-Curricular Activity by next year.

Li added that unlike CCAs that tend to be event-oriented or focused on competition, the salon is catered for those who prefer a relaxed discussion setting.

“We lack an organisation in the school for such activities to be conducted,” he said.

Tan Wenqi, founding member and fourth-year political science student, said, “I also realise that those who came down for our first session...are mainly from engineering and science faculties.”

She explained, “They don’t usually attend such lectures, unlike arts students. I think they don’t want something so heavy, like taking a GEM (General Education Module) module. The style of the cultural salon actually suits them in that it’s ad-hoc, so they can come as and when they like.”

The added advantage is that all students from different faculties can join the salon that resembles the style of University Scholars’ Seminar.

The USS, which provides a platform for the transmission and exchange of ideas is open only to students in the University Scholars Programme.

According to Tan, this new interest group can be seen as “plugging the gap that is in the system right now” as some discussion groups no longer are exclusive to certain students.

Future plans include having more audience participation and grooming students to lead discussions in the future.

Hu said, “We offer a casual setting, and our long term aim is to have student speakers rather than guest speakers, so it also acts as a platform to build up students’ public speaking skills.”

Li Jin Bo, founding member and third-year engineering student, said, “In future, possibly we can have some debate, with a student leading the discussion. We’ll be experimenting with different forms of activities for sessions next semester.”

“We do not want to make it a lecture-styled discussion...we want to make it more integrative, where students can speak up,” he added.

Publicity for the salon has been carried out through the IVLE student events posting, on blogs and word-of-mouth.

For the salon to exist in the long run, there are concerns of funding and getting the Office of Students Affairs to endorse their activities as a new society.

Hu said, “The main reason for us to work towards becoming a CCA is to pass this thing on after we graduate.”

The next Cultural Salon session on “Myth of Ancient Chinese Characters” is held on Oct. 24.