Almost Three Quarters of SUTD Undergraduates Can Experience Global Programmes
- More than 70% of SUTD students will have opportunity for overseas exposure
Singapore, 23 February 2016 – Come May 2016, students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) will have access to a greater number of global programmes. Increasing the number of overseas opportunities by 40 per cent will allow almost three quarters, i.e. over 70 per cent, of the SUTD student cohort to gain an overseas experience during the course of their undergraduate studies.
These new global programmes are in addition to SUTD’s signature exchange programmes with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Zhejiang University. Nine prominent universities/organisations have partnered with SUTD to offer the global programmes and these include Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Pohang University of Science and Technology, National Taiwan University and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, to name a few. Annex A will show more details about the various programmes and partner universities.
The new programmes will have durations ranging from three weeks to a term, depending on the programme type. Some programmes are fully sponsored by SUTD, while others will be co-funded by both the university and students or paid for by the students. There are also company internship opportunities for some of the new programmes, which are not part of existing overseas internship opportunities.
With the world becoming increasingly globalised and in line with SUTD’s mission to nurture technically-grounded leaders to meet the needs and challenges of the world, it is beneficial for students nowadays to include an overseas experience in their portfolio, as part of having a holistic and well-rounded education. International exposure is not only good for personal development; it also exposes them to the needs of the world, the different scale and magnitude of global developments in a different cultural and working environment, as well as nurture their understanding of the global business setting. Knowing the importance of such experiences, SUTD strives to offer a variety of global opportunities which includes exchange programmes and summer school programmes with different focuses, such as engineering design or entrepreneurship.
“We believe that SUTD students first need to experience the world in order to better the world. We encourage them to venture abroad early as this will nurture their sensitivities to global happenings and provide them with a good foundation to develop technologies and innovations with real-world applications and benefits,” said Professor Yeo Kiat Seng, SUTD’s Associate Provost for International Relations and Graduate Studies.
Twenty-two-year-old SUTD student Lim Zhenyang (Year 2, Information Systems Technology and Design), who will be heading to National Taiwan University for exchange this August said: “Student exchange is an exciting programme that allows us to learn so much more about our host country’s culture and perspectives by being immersed in a new environment for one full term. It is a valuable opportunity for me, and I am looking forward also to sharing about Singapore and SUTD with my new friends there!”
Annex A
List of New Programmes
Student exchange constitutes one term (Term 6) of living and learning in one of our partner universities worldwide. Students will be able to transfer credits earned in our partner universities back to SUTD:
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KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden
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National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan ROC
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National Taiwan University, Taiwan ROC
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University of Waterloo, Canada
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Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea
Summer opportunities in 2016 include the following programmes:
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Stanford University (Stanford Summer International Honors Program)
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Tokyo Institute of Technology (Engineering Design-related Programme)
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European Innovation Academy (Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summer School) – France or Italy
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University of California Berkeley (Berkeley Summer Sessions)
List of Current Programmes
The Global Leadership Programme is a fully-funded exchange programme to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is a 10-week summer programme that takes place in June. Each year, around 30 SUTD students are selected to participate in this programme. In this programme, students will be posed with a design challenge, during which they will spend the 10 weeks working on possible solutions.
The Winter Independent Activities Period (IAP) is a three-week partially funded exchange programme to MIT that around 60 students get to participate in yearly. Students will immerse themselves in a new culture and environment while taking IAP with MIT students.
The Asian Leadership Programme is a 13-week exchange programme to Zhejiang University, where students work on hands-on projects and have opportunities to work with Chinese companies in Hangzhou. Around 100 students are selected to participate in this fully-funded programme which takes place in May yearly.