NUS Open House visitors note the lack of CCA showcase

Chin Mei Kuan | mk.chin@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication

14 Mar 2008

Story Highlights:

• NUS open house visitors note the lack of CCAs showcase at NUS open house this year
• Exhibition by faculties providing information on admission and academic courses well received
• Improvements to open house can be made, said current NUS undergraduates

They came, they saw, and they wanted more.

More than just information on the faculties and programs offered by the National University of Singapore, that is.

Some NUS Open House 2008 visitors had found the lack of information on the various co-curricular activities (CCAs) available in NUS rather disappointing.

However, at the same time, most found the exhibition in Multi-Purpose Sports Hall (MPSH) 2 and the faculty talks in MPSH 1 useful and informative.

It is not hard to notice the apparent focus of the open house - exhibitions by the faculties. There was a wealth of information on faculties and academic courses available throughout the exhibition.

Professors and student representatives were readily available to attend to applicants’ and concerned parents’ questions.
Photo credit: Chin Mei Kuan

However, Anderson Junior College graduate Koh Suh Tyng noted that the NUS open house was of a smaller scale compared to Nanyang Technological University’s open house.

“There was little showcase of the CCAs available,” she noted.

Photo credits: Chin Mei Kuan

Koh added that information on the performances held in the NUS Students’ Union fair in Hall 5 and under the Centre of Arts program were not readily available as well.

It is not just visitors who found the lack of attention given to campus life and activities a letdown.

First-year Wushu team member, Benson Lim, suggested that more CCA clubs could have been allowed to set up booths in MPSH 5, which hosted NUSSU clubs, societies and halls only.

“There was more than sufficient space (for the CCAs already present) in the MPSH,” he said.

Aerobics club member, Allison Li, who had helped man the Aerobics booth, agreed that the MPSH “could have been better utilised.”

Despite of the lack of attention paid to non-academic activities, it appears that the exhibition in MPSH 2 was well received nonetheless.

Mrs Lulito, who was here with her children, said that the family would only be attending the NUS open house as her children had already decided on applying to NUS.

She was full of praises for the exhibition in MPSH 2.

“The whole event was well-organised, with the (faculty and admission) talks on one floor and the exhibition itself above it,” she said.

“It was very convenient, I liked how the planning was done,” she added.

Left: Students packed into MPSH 1 for various admission and faculty talks.
Right: Potential NUS applicants thronging the exhibition at MPSH 2.
Photo credits: Chin Mei Kuan