Hannah Yan | h_y@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication
April. 4, 2008

Story Highlights:

There are 1,992 students with no rooms to stay on Kent Ridge campus after this year’s hostel allocation.

Some went to a dialogue session with the Office of Student Affairs(OSA) held at Prince George’s Park (PGP) Auditorium on April 4 and leftwith no concrete answers provided.

After the release of results on March 27, many students flocked tothe OSA to appeal about the result and ask for an explanation.

However, everyone went back with a different answer and some evenreceived wrong information from the front desk, according to SiddharthChoudhry, a third year mechanical engineering student.

According to the OSA, out of 5,175 applicants, 38 percent areunsuccessful, compared to last year’s 33 percent out of 4,707applicants, marking a 5 percent rise and the highest ever cut-off levelof Co-curricular Activity (CCA) points in history.

As some international students demanded, the OSA offered thebreakdown of statistics-among the successful senior applicants, 1,001are local and 2,182 are international; among the unsuccessful, 848 arelocal and 1,144 are international.

International students and some permanent residents (PR) whosefamilies do not own housing properties in Singapore are especiallyworried about a roof over head. Some local students said they also havecompelling reason to stay on campus.

Some students recommend placing an additional bed to the single rooms.

Associate rofessor Tan Teck Koon, Dean of Students, referred to theproposed three-bed room in Nanyang Technological University, which wasmet with public objection, to show that it is not practical.

He later discussed with students on such a possibility.

Other students suggested giving priority to those living far away or from overseas.

However, Associate Professor Tan said this is a system riddled with loopholes.

He gave the reasons that the OSA will need to check the accuracy ofall addresses, and consider local students who live far away but haveconvenient means of transport.

Associate Professor Tan repeated his advice to students: “go andfind a place.” And he advised the students to find a place before theholiday begins.

But for many international students, it is not a simple thing to do.

With the final exams looming, searching for accommodation now doesnot seem to be feasible. As some will go back to home countries duringthe holiday, they may not immediately find accommodation afterreturning. “When I am back to the airport with my luggage, where do Itell the taxi driver to go?” A student asked.

Shahanah Joomun, a second-year computing student from Mauritus, saidif she sources for accommodation now, she has to sign a one- or two-year contract and even though she is not staying during the holidaysshe still have to pay.

The OSA encourages students with financial difficulties to apply for subsidiary loans from them.

Students did not find this as a viable solution either. Taskeen Edoois a second-year computing student from Mauritus. Her father works on aplantation and her mother does not work. She said, “We came toSingapore with a worry-free mindset that we can get grants and won’tadd burden to our families. But if we have to take up another loan, nowit just means more burden.”

A student commented: “how could NUS advertise itself as a globaluniversity while it cannot satisfy the needs of its own students?”Another student said students today will become alumnus later and whenthey look back, they may find that they were not treated fairly.

Students can apply to be on the waiting list for campus accommodation.

In the case where some freshmen do not turn up next semester, placesoriginally reserved to them will be released to the current students.The application for waiting list will be opened in August and will beon a first-come-first-serve basis as well as depending on students’preference ranking of hostels.

Off-campus accommodation opportunities are in a database on the OSA website but it needed to be updated.

Students also questioned the fairness of CCA points system that determines the hostel allocation results.

Dilesh Weeras Uriya, a second-year computing student from Sri Lanka,said the residents of PGP are disadvantaged in competing with hallresidents for accommodation as halls offer more activities and higherpoints.

“I was a group leader of orientation camp and I got only one pointfor it. People staying in hall get eight points out of this. It isunfair because we work equally hard,” he explained.

Students on Industrial Attachment attachment also expressed theirconcerns. Though they are physically in Singapore, they do not havetime to participate in campus activities becausing of work and are notgetting the same priority as students on exchange.

The fact that some presidents of clubs abuse the use of points toreward their friends or to import players to participate in inter-hallgames has been brought to the Dean’s attention.

According to OSA, in lieu of the increasing demand for studentaccommodation, they built Prince George’s Park, Ridge View ResidenceTower Block, Kuok Foundation House in the 1990s and block leased BoonLay hostel to house more students in 2007.

After receiving students’ feedback, they also also increased thenumber of shuttle buses from Boon Lay and vamped up the internet systemto ensure students residing there have internet access.

Associate Professor Tan said that it is not easy to get a largenumber of rooms with a reasonable price off campus. With the UniversityTown hostel due to open in 2010, he said: “I’m confident that in 2010the university can accommodate all students for their duration ofstudy.”

Near the end of the session, Choudhry said,“we came here to find asolution, but after two and a half hours we are still hopeless.”

The Vice-Dean of students, Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser, said asolution cannot be found overnight and a committee including members ofthe OSA and NUSSU will be set up to look into this matter.