When will you know and how do we tell you?

If you are selected for SEP, an email will be sent to your NUS email account to inform you that you have an internal offer in EduRec to accept or reject. The email will be sent sometime from mid-December in Round 1 and mid-May in Round 2.  If you are not successful, you will also receive an email to that effect.

One very important thing to note

Please think again if this SEP is for you. If you accepted the offer and subsequently need to withdraw, you will need to pay an admin fee of $300. You may of course write in to explain your situation but be prepared to pay. However, we will not be able to accept the following reasons;

Acceptance of other overseas programme or internship - we ask that students to be completely certain that they want to participate in SEP over the other programmes before they accept the offer.

Unable to receive parental/scholarship company support - we ask that students to discuss their choice of SEP locations with their parents and/or scholarship company before accepting the offer.

Supporting documents to prepare

You have accepted the internal offer; you now need to prepare the supporting documents needed for the partner university to which you have been assigned.

In the email sent to you, we will have stated a deadline for the submission of these documents; please understand that we are subjected to the timeline given to us by our partner universities; any delay or request for extension on your part means that your documents will go to the partner universities late. As a result, we can no longer guarantee a place for SEP for you with that university. This is something outside of our control and you must be aware that your actions have consequences.

You will submit these documents to the FASS, Dean's Office by the given deadline (stated in the email). The email, will be sent about a month before the partner university deadline.

Right, you've got all your papers ready and you sent them to the Dean’s Office, what now?

At this point, all application materials will be collated and forwarded to the respective assigned partner universities for their consideration based on their stipulated timelines. After which the partner university will process your application. Please be patient and you will hear from the partner universities in due time.

Remember at this point, we are applying on your behalf to be accepted by the partner university as an exchange student. We still require the partner university's acceptance to confirm your exchange status.

It may take some time - more often than not months - before you receive news from the assigned partner university regarding your application. If the partner university requires more information, they may write directly to you. You can refer to the partner university's website for an estimated timeline on when you will hear from them.

If your application is successful, the assigned partner university will send you an Admission or Acceptance package about 2 months before the start of your exchange semester.  If the Registrar's Office/Faculty receives the package, you will be notified by e-mail to collect the package. You should try to collect the package as early as possible because some partner universities set a deadline for the offer. If you do not reply by the deadline given, you will lose your place.

Also please be mindful of the fact that a lot of countries insist that you get your student visa in your home country and not in a third country so you may need to be in Singapore during that time to get your visa done. So we suggest that you should not travel and avoid joining another overseas programme while waiting for your acceptance package.

You have submitted your application to the partner university. Should you purchase your accommodation and flight tickets now?

We advise that you wait till the partner university notifies you of your acceptance and that the required visa is approved before you make any financial commitments since there is risk of rejection.

So you didn’t get a place for SEP at all, can you appeal?

You can appeal, but please understand that some universities are also extremely popular and hence competition for the places is very fierce. We also get limited places from Global Relations Office. This is because as most SEP agreements require parity in numbers (incoming and outgoing) and GRO cannot give us large numbers for those universities and a lot of students who choose them get disappointed.

Appeal can only be processed if there are vacancies.

If you have students who withdraw from SEP, can I be on the waiting list?

Unsuccessful students will be notified of Round B. Round B allows students to apply for universities that still have some vacancies. In the event where there are rejections for your initial choices and you are the next competitive student, you will consider you for the university.

We are constrained by the timeline given by partner universities for the submission of SEP applications from NUS hence, there will be a cut off as to when is the latest we can offer students. Once the process of nomination starts, we will not be able to select anymore students even if there are vacancies.

You had spoken to seniors about course mapping and you wonder what you need to do?

Course Mapping - previously known as Module Mapping

The FAQ on course mapping (FAQ28) will give you more information. Also you need to be very clear on your degree requirements (majors, unrestricted electives etc.) and how far along you are in meeting the requirements, you will also need to be well-versed on the maximum number of units you can bring back from overseas studies and how the courses will fulfill your degree requirements.

There had been many instances of students who could not graduate on time because they were not clear about the above and have to extend their studies by one semester in order to complete their degree.

You are worried that the courses you read overseas may not amount to 20 units. How do the credits earned overseas translate into units at NUS?

Unit Ratio - previously known as MC Ratio

The basic rule is that units are awarded based on FASS Unit Ratio and not the Units it is approved to.

The Unit Ratios is listed on our FASS website. The FAQ section on this will explain it best.

Please also ensure that you read a complete workload of credits while overseas based on the ratios indicated on the website. There have been instances where students missed their degree completion by 1 unit due to an incomplete workload at their partner university and had to extend their studies by 1 semester in order to graduate.

You finally received the Acceptance/Admission packages from the Partner University? What do you do then?

Read the instructions given to you by the partner university and make sure that you complete all that they need from you to ensure your exchange is secured. You can also start the process of getting your students visa and air tickets, arranging for accommodation etc. You will take care of this by yourself as our office does not have the staff strength to assist you.

If you receive the package directly from the partner university, we also want you to inform us through Study Abroad@FASS that you have received it; this is important so that we can update your status in the coming semester.