International Exchange Day offers international mileage to students

07 Sep 2009

Speaking at the International Exchange Day on 3 September 2009, Guest-of-Honour Prof Tan Eng Chye, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost, highlighted that an overseas exposure not only allows students to learn from the world, but to also gain international mileage by acquiring linguistic skills and developing cultural sensitivity.

This was echoed by Assoc Prof Anne Pakir, Director of the International Relations Office in her welcome address. She urged students to seize the chance to go abroad.

Themed "Ask about I", the event allowed students to learn about the various overseas programmes from the booths set up according to faculties and regions, as well as from the talks delivered at the Central Library. There were also NUS Student Union cultural booths.

The event featured a character costumes parade and the first prize went to Jin Yu, a first year graduate student from the NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering. She was dressed up as Yue Ling Xi, a character from a popular Chinese puppet show. She went home with a $500 gift voucher.

Eunice Chew, a Year 3 applied maths major, shared about her student exchange experience at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She said that as the class sizes were much smaller as compared to NUS, students could interact better. She also took the opportunity to travel extensively while being in the US. "I made really good friends with whom I still keep in touch with. I even met one of my best friends there," added Eunice.

Over at the Europe booth, Johan Gabriel Miguez, a Sciences Po Paris student on exchange programme at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said that he chose NUS as it is a good university centred in Asia. He noted that he wanted to discover Asia and Singapore was a good platform to do so.