We students have to devote our attention to studies, work, and extracurricular pursuits, but we need concerted, targeted efforts from our student union, NUSSU to address students’ difficulties together with the NUS administration and leadership.

Both NUS and the country, in general, are in a period of rapid transformation. Leaders have not been afraid to move fast and break things. NUS has also quickly evolved, and in fact, rolled out a new Vision, Mission and Values last week - without input from students.

Students are the biggest stakeholder group at any university. We share many interests in common with NUS - we all want students to graduate on time, to be able to afford to pay tuition fees, and so on. NUSSU, the student union, can work with NUS in these aspects more easily. NUS and student interests sometimes diverge as well, and it becomes equally if not more important for the student union to speak for students and manage a win-win or agreeable outcome for both students and management. In both scenarios, NUSSU must work for all of us students so we can carry on our studies and pursuits and enjoy campus life without undue worry.

We believe NUSSU needs major reforms to ensure it works effectively for students. while continuing to deliver welfare events and major campus life events.

where we listen to more students, understand the problems and contexts that different students face, and find good solutions that students and NUS can accept.

We also have to talk with and question NUS more to elicit important information to understand what will be happening, what is being planned, how these will be carried out, and why.

Above all, some things should not change, especially our motivation to serve students, and we reaffirm the objects of the Union that have been inscribed in its constitution since day 1, though they have been forgotten by many:

1. To promote and safeguard the interests of the members of Union within the University.
2. To uphold and respect the dignity and equality of every member of the Union without regard to religion, race or politics.
3. To promote the welfare of members of the Union within the University.

These are the concerns we want to bring up to NUS. We collated this list after speaking to a wide variety of students, including international students, off-campus students, minorities and so on.

1. CORS and the new module allocation system: Besides seeking to deliver a simpler module allocation system that gives students what they need to graduate, representatives from the Registrar’s Office who spoke at a town hall meeting on 8 Jun 2018 also mentioned issues such as an undersupply of certain modules that have to be managed by a module allocation system. We are concerned about the transition away from CORS, how the new system works, and whether there might be unintended side effects, including making it harder for students to customise their education and explore modules outside their major or year.

   1. Work with Registrar’s Office to ensure NUS enforces transitional measures during the final semester of CORS in anticipation of students dumping their CORS bid points during bidding rounds.
   2. Urge NUS to publicly clarify the current status of its new module allocation system and explain its provisional features and allow students to comment and submit feedback for NUS consideration.
   3. Organise focus group discussions with students who will be affected by the new system, including undergraduates from majors or programmes with more electives, collate and organise qualitative feedback, and bring up their feedback during negotiations with the Registrar’s Office and the Provost’s Office.
   4. Recognising that an undersupply of modules cannot be resolved by changing the module allocation system alone, we seek to initiate conversations with management about what NUS is doing to retain quality lecturers to teach core and elective modules to undergraduates, in light of lecturers leaving the University for other universities for higher pay or guaranteed tenure. NUSSU will work with the relevant faculty clubs and/or departmental societies to identify departments that have lost significant numbers of lecturers or slashed the availability of important modules and raise their cases with the Board of Undergraduate Studies, BUS.

2. Compulsory internships or attachments: Students in faculties like Engineering or majors like Social Work have to undertake compulsory attachments or internships. Students however are sometimes required to carry these out during regular semesters (especially IA for Engineering students) when they have to pay full tuition fees as well. We would suggest to NUS to either reduce such costs - especially when students do not receive big allowances and must spend these on food and transport - or ensure it devotes more attention to safeguarding students’ on-the-job learning experience. Importantly, students are in a weaker bargaining position as they lack experience and also depend on such internships or attachments for their degree requirements. They need someone to speak for them and protect them.

   1. Urge NUS to either set higher recommended allowances for students or to return part of students’ tuition fees to them in the form of allowance top-ups.
   2. Ask NUS or relevant faculties how companies seeking to take on NUS undergraduates, especially companies listed on NUS portals are vetted to ensure they are safe, fostering workplaces.
   3. Ask NUS to clarify how the University would render assistance and support to students facing harassment, mistreatment or working conditions in violation of the agreement between them and the companies, and investigate or report such cases to the civil authorities.
   4. NUSSU will provide or transmit useful information for students seeking to know more about their rights with respect to their internships or attachments under relevant laws and regulations.

3. Urge NUS to reduce or waive tuition fees payable by undergraduates carrying out compulsory internships or attachments during the semester or Special Terms, in recognition of the decreased contact time students have with lecturers and limited use of campus resources, OR

4. Mitigating the impact of increased tuition fees: A report from CNBC two years ago reflected the huge growth in NUS undergraduate tuition fees across the past decade from 2007 to 2016, and fees have also increased since then. We hope to initiate a dialogue with NUS administration about the proportion of NUS undergraduates receiving financial assistance as well as whether NUS can continue retaining good lecturers so as not to compromise the quality of undergraduate education.

5. New modules added to the curriculum for graduation requirements or job preparation: 'At NUS, there is a strong emphasis on data science and IT. All students have to take a compulsory module – all students, whether you are learning science or history – all students must take a module on either quantitative reasoning or computational thinking. These are the foundational skills of coding and data analytics.' - excerpt from speech by Ong Ye Kung

   1. We are concerned whether NUS may be simply adding module after module to undergraduate curricular requirements to plug gaps that employers have identified to NUS. Beyond helping NUS or students tick certain check-boxes, everyone would benefit from improvements to various modules including GET1031A and GER1000, which affects all NUS students, especially if students take away deeper learning outcomes or practicable skills.

We also hope NUS will become an academic community open and accessible to all groups that have been admitted to study here, especially minorities who have been ignored or neglected by the university or the union.

1. International students in NUS:

   1. For full-time undergraduate international (or exchange) students who have just arrived at NUS, engage them earlier in orientation activities and also issue them documentation earlier (including letters certifying their Singapore addresses as well as matriculation cards) to permit them to access NUS facilities, set up local bank accounts to facilitate cashless payment options and payment of school fees, and also secure student passes from ICA in good time.

2. Poly students in NUS: Education Minister Ong Ye Kung indicated his ministry was open to revisiting the admission criteria for polytechnic students seeking entry into local universities. Besides discussing with NUS the possibility of relooking how poly students are taken into NUS - including the requirement that poly grads sit for the Qualifying English Test regardless of what course they studied - other smaller policies that distinguish pol-origin students from JC-origin students and make it harder for the former to enjoy freedom of education should be addressed.

   1. Urge NUS to reinstate the withdrawn S/U credits for those poly-origin undergraduates who were granted exemptions or advance placement credits because of their poly diplomas and who later chose to take up additional minor/major programmes. This should be change that is effected within the same year for poly-origin students of all years.

3. Halal food on campus:

   1. Study the feasibility of subsidising halal certification costs to ensure more halal-certified food options for Muslim students, faculty, and staff, and urge NUS look into further offsetting halal stall rental and utility costs for halal stallholders while making sure that cost savings are passed on to patrons of these halal stalls. Muslim students also pay tuition fees and union fees - can’t such fees be redirected to providing amenities for their needs?

4. Making NUS more disability-friendly:

   1. Recognising the fact that there are different communities including the deaf, the mute, the visually-impaired, and so on, NUSSU and NUS should ensure such students have unimpaired access to NUS, including to residential life on campus if they apply and qualify. NUS should reconsider its blanket reimbursement-only policy since not all students may be able to afford paying out of pocket first for expensive equipment.
   2. Introduce more lifts in less accessible faculties with many slopes and stairs.

5. Internal shuttle bus (ISB) services for students:

   1. Ask OCA for details concerning previous years’ shuttle bus budgets as well as the service contract with ComfortDelgro to determine whether there is scope to increase the shuttle bus frequency, considering the increase in the undergraduate population and the needs of NUS faculty and staff who also enjoy the use of the ISB services.
   2. Study the feasibility of increasing the frequency of B1 shuttle bus so as to ferry students between Biz and UTown and reduce the crowding on D1 so that UTown ←→ Computing or Business commuters can get to their destinations faster.
   3. Study the feasibility of having the BTC bus drop students off at UTown when travelling from Bukit Timah Campus to Kent Ridge Campus, so Law students can return to KRC more conveniently to take part in CCAs and RC life.
   4. Study the feasibility of future shuttle bus routes from MRT stations such as Dover or Haw Par Villa to locations on campus, to alleviate the morning crowds coming in from Kent Ridge, Clementi or Buona Vista MRT stations.
   5. Explore with NUS and OCA the possibility of implementing technologies to study crowds at bus stops and on board buses and traffic flow patterns and assist with route optimisation, deployment of shuttle buses and real-time rescheduling of buses.

6. Ensuring justice is delivered for students charged by the University for serious offences:

   1. Review the disciplinary system for students accused of serious offences and propose improvements in investigative procedure, prosecution etc. to ensure accused students receive fair trials.
   2. Request the Provost’s Office publicly release relevant directives concerning student discipline or sentencing norms for serious offences.
   3. Request the Board of Discipline and the Student Conduct Unit publish written reasons alongside verdicts and sentences handed out to convicted students to allow students to learn why and how they were sentenced and make an informed decision as to whether to appeal their sentences.
   4. Ensure that elected NUSSU representatives who sit on the Board of Discipline have undergone proper orientation to the system and equip them with guidelines such as to promote an ethically fair hearing.
7. Residential dining on campus, governed by Office of Housing Services: Discuss with OHS possibilities including allowing residents in RCs and halls to subscribe to partial meal plans (e.g. 90% instead of full meal plan) so they can save costs, and allow people to visit any OHS dining hall to consume breakfast or dinner using the same credits.