Student Exchange Programme: What Must I Do?

You looked at the FAQs and the various websites in the Before Application section. You are confident that you really want to go for exchange. What now?

 

Application via EduRec - Global Education (EduRec-GE)

During the application period, on the SEP website (under SEP Application Materials), you will find a list of the universities available and the number of places offered. We suggest that you pay some attention to the remarks in EduRec-GE, GRO factsheets and Partner University websites as some Partner Universities may have indicated special requirements. For example, most US universities has a GPA requirement of 3.5 and some even higher.

Another important feature is that there are a number of the universities' semesters which straddle between two of our semesters (e.g., the first semester can run from October - February). This will affect you as you may miss classes as you will return late to class at NUS. If your return is deemed too late, you will need to take a Leave of Absence (Refer to FAQ5).

Please refer to Registrar's Office's website on what is Normal Candidature and the impact it has on tuition fees if you graduate beyond Normal Candidature.

You asked which university is suitable for you?

You should do your own research on suitable universities for you. This is your student exchange programme you are the one embarking on so you should find some time to research and find out more about the universities on the list.

Please pick up to 5 Universities that you are interested in, and the selection can be a mixture of university-wide, faculty-wide or departmental-wide partners across countries. Please only apply for those you are willing and happy to receive offers for. Consider your choices in relation to each University's homepage for more information, e.g., courses offered, language of instruction, academic workload, academic calendar, accommodation and expenses. GRO prepares factsheets for each of the universities under their care. It is a good starting point for research. For the Faculty and Department level partner universities, information is also shared here.

Beating the application deadline

Do give yourself ample time to submit your SEP application instead of waiting till the last day or hours prior to the deadline to submit. There had been cases of students not being able to submit due to IT issues.

Completing your application is very important

Make sure that your application is as complete as possible and that all the fields are populated and that you provide accurate details.

More importantly, please ensure that your NUS SEP Study Plan is properly updated (a tentative copy for this stage; approval for the module mapping is not needed) and that you include a personal statement on why you want to participate in the SEP, explain your choice of universities, in concrete ways on how your exchange will benefit your academics and future. A poor statement with no clear thought may mean reduce your chances.