Apartment Search
The university itself does not have any student dormitory spaces, but offers the option of other accommodation, the landlords of which you can contact. The search for an apartment was then unfortunately a little more difficult than hoped. In order to be able to look for a room on site, I flew to Singapore a week before the start of the semester. Since I hadn’t thought much about it beforehand, I was a bit surprised when I saw the prices that were charged for some of the rooms that were quite small. From 500 to over 1000 euros a month, everything was there. There are various portals and Facebook groups on the Internet that offer rooms. I got in touch with a few and was able to look at quite a few apartments, mainly shared apartments.This also included offers to share a room. However, it quickly became clear to me that I definitely wanted to have my own room.
There are different types of housing in Singapore. Real single-family homes are reserved for the rich. The HDBs are apartment blocks that are a bit simpler. Condos are also residential buildings with several floors that also have a pool, fitness room and / or tennis courts and are guarded by security guides, which is why they are slightly more expensive than HDBs.
Finally I found a small room in a condo in the middle of the city center. And the term ‘small’ is really not an understatement. That was certainly not more than 6 square meters. But I had a small adjoining bathroom to myself. The other three rooms were occupied by working people. Since we had a very nice and large living room and I was out and about a lot anyway, the cramped room was bearable for the weeks. From the large windows in the living room, as well as from my room window, I had an incredible view of the city, the apartment was on the 18th floor. Since it is always incredibly warm and humid in Singapore, you will quickly appreciate the advantages of air conditioning, even if it usually causes additional costs.
Description from James Cook University Singapore
James Cook University is an Australian university with a campus in Singapore. In 2015 the university was voted among the top 4% of universities worldwide. The campus is quite small and clearly arranged, modern and very open. It is not directly in the city, but can be easily reached by public transport. The lecture rooms as well as all other rooms are very clean and correspond to our standard. However, they are often a little too air conditioned. A thin jacket is definitely an advantage here. If you leave the lecture rooms, you stand outside (where the warmth comes out again) and the cafeteria is only covered. This consists of small snacks where you can get everything from economic rice to Indian food to western food. The air-conditioned student hub is ideal for working and, in addition to a large area with tables and chairs, also offers quiet workspaces. Otherwise there are also individual, demarcated workstations in the library. The computer rooms are used during the lecture, but are also available for free use.
- Learn more information about the country of Singapore and continent of Asia on shoe-wiki.
Like the city itself, the campus is a mix of many cultures. 70% of the students are not from Singapore. In addition to many other Asian countries, the university also attracts students from all over Europe every semester. The Singaporean government mandates that all foreign students must have 90% attendance. In addition, regardless of whether you have a lecture or not, you have to spend at least three hours on campus every day from Monday to Friday. This is to ensure that with the student visa you do not go to work outside the university without permission. The presence was controlled by fingerprint, but can sometimes be avoided more, sometimes less:)
I always had the feeling that there was an eerie family atmosphere on campus. You always meet some familiar faces, and the lecturers are also open to discussions. If you sit outside in front of the Studenhub, you can often watch the dean feeding his koi, which swim in a small pond in the university courtyard.
Involvement in the course of studies
The JCUS teaches in trimesters. Therefore, I could not cover all the courses that I would have needed for the fifth semester in the semester abroad. The economic Liche main subject was able to, I fully document with three courses at JCU. In Germany these courses fall under the main subject ‘International Management’. I was able to obtain the credits of the IV module with a psychology course. Since you are only allowed to take four courses per trimester at the JCU, I was unfortunately unable to cover the Methodology V module.
Description of the courses taken
On the basis of my transcript, the JCUS decided for which courses I have the necessary prior knowledge. In the end, the following courses remained: International Marketing, Project Management, Intercultural Communication, Psychometrics, Assessments and Ethics. Each event consisted of a lecture and a mandatory tutorial. Since there were several dates for the tutorial, we were always a smaller group there than in the lectures. In the economic subjects there was always group work as a performance test. In order to represent the internationality here, too, no more than 70% of a group could come from the same country.
The midterm tests lasted one hour each. The final exams were scheduled for two hours.
International Marketing
During the lecture, the lecturer liked to go through over 100 slides, which in the end made us all desperate while studying. When the topics were narrowed down, all of this was also feasible. And in terms of content, this subject was quite interesting.
The tutorial was similar to the ‘International Management’ course from the first semester. We should create a marketing plan for an existing product for a foreign market. The first examination consisted of a presentation and the finished report. In the final exam we had to answer four questions out of eight given.
Intercultural Communication
Unfortunately, I had hoped for more in this subject in advance. The content was ok, but I would still have preferred another subject. The tutorial was intended exclusively for group work. The lecturer was not really helpful for questions.
Here, too, we had to complete a report as an examination as a group. To do this, we had to choose a company that wanted to expand into a culturally completely different country. Three intercultural differences that could lead to problems should be described and possible solutions presented. A presentation was also part of the grade. The final exam consisted of questions that had to be discussed in detail.
