Every year about 1,300 NUS students head overseas on student exchange with foreign partner universities, but this number is far short of the 2,000 places available.

There are many reasons why the number falls short of the target set by the NUS International Relations Office, IRO Assistant Director Hamidah Salleh said.

“Some students really want to go, but sometimes the courses in the universities they want to go to cannot be mapped to modules in NUS,” Salleh said. “Other times the students are unable to go on exchange because of financial difficulties.”

Even though students only need to pay NUS tuition fees, and none at the host university during their exchange overseas, the high living expenses to be borne by the students themselves, ranging from S$5,000 to S$15,000 per semester, is what deters most students from going on exchange. However, not having the money does not mean the chance to study abroad for one or two semesters is lost.
 
“As a student going overseas you have to pay for your own expenses, but there are various financial awards available to help out,” Salleh said.

Another reason Salleh believes students do not take up the slots for exchange is that they “do not want to move out of their comfort zone within NUS.”

Emilie Fuchs, a third-year communications student on a one-semester exchange from Université La Sorbonne, France, agreed. She said that Singaporeans are a very “pampered” lot.

“Singapore students are assisted a lot by professors. They even make course packs for you,” she said. “In France you’re lucky if they even provide a list of books to read. Otherwise, you will have to do all the research yourself.”

Second-year science student Xiaole Hu, who wants to head to Germany or the United Kingdom on exchange in the future, is another who agreed that “Singaporeans these days are very sheltered.”

“Singaporean students are especially afraid of doing something different from the norm,” she said. “Not being able to adapt in a foreign country or the idea of being away from home scares people.
 
“They are put off by the idea of not doing well, not because they don’t have the ability to, but because it is in a different environment.”

Hu said an overseas posting would be perfect for her “because it’s a very good opportunity to be independent and do things on your own, especially when there is no one else to do it for you.”

“It will really test if you're as independent as you think you are. It will also be a test of your character, and it might change you for the better,” she said.

Hu believes an exchange is also a chance to “test the waters” in a particular environment to see if one is able to work or live there in the future.

It is this challenge that drives students like Fuch to want to “live in a country where (she is) not a majority.”

“It is good to see how it is to live in a country where you are completely foreign,” she said. “The French culture is completely different from the one in Singapore.”

Fuch said she chose Singapore as an exchange destination because she wanted to be immersed in surroundings as different as possible from those she is used.

“Since (an exchange) is expensive both in terms of time and money, I needed to know I was getting as much value for (the) time and money as possible. Otherwise, it would not truly be interesting and useful to me,” she said.

Fuch added that the opportunity to travel in Asia was another factor in her choosing Singapore as her destination, especially because of its central location and easy access to neighbouring countries.

However, third-year law student Shauna Loo, currently on exchange at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands, said “the experience is really in the living” and not so much the travelling.

“Don’t be so focused on travelling,” she said. “You can cram (in) the travelling any other time, but you can't live like that anymore once you’ve left school and started working.”

While the chance to experience studying and living in a different environment is one of the factors students should consider when deciding whether to go on exchange, Salleh said students should see the bigger picture.

A stint studying overseas will increase a student’s employability and job prospects, she said.

“A lot of companies and organizations have a global presence,” she said. “Even government statutory boards like DSTA (Defence Science and Technology Agency) and EDB (Economic Development Board of Singapore) offer scholarships for students to go overseas.”

She said NUS students should grab the chance to go on exchange because it is “good for academic and personal development”, and “gives you an advantage over a student who stays in NUS.”

“You will gain a global perspective from being in a different learning environment,” Salleh said. “You will also make new friends and networks. This will give you an edge over the rest.”

June Seah, human resource coordinator at LucasFilm Animation Company B.Z., agreed. When multinational companies hire staff, “someone who has been on exchange is definitely in good stead compared to someone who has not,” she said.

“At Lucasfilm, we have 35 different nationalities working together. The ability to get along with other people is crucial when we work in teams,” she said. “We need candidates who can get along with and accept people from other cultures.

“The global exposure from being overseas will give candidates the ability to adapt and work with people from different backgrounds.”

Mei-Lynn Chan, vice president human capital management of NETS Pte Ltd, was another who said these candidates stand a better chance of being hired because of the overseas exposure.

“One learns independence when abroad, as there is no one to rely on. Individuals have to be self-sufficient and fend for themselves,” she said. “One also learns to think in different ways. This ability to think out-of-the-box is key.

“People who haven’t had the overseas exposure tend to be very willing to follow, and less keen to think for themselves.”

The list of awards and scholarships open to NUS students can be accessed online at http://www.nus.edu.sg/iro/nus/students/awards/index.html.