Semester Exchange Programme (SEP)

What is sep?

NUS SEP is a global study programme where NUS students can choose from over 300 Partner Universities all around the world, and spend up to one year studying there. This programme is highly competitive here in NUS because students are very keen in being able to travel somewhere else and take up the opportunity to experience a glimpse of life and education in another country, where everything from culture, climate and infrastructure is all different compared to here in Singapore. 

Why participate in SEP?

As a student, you should strongly consider participating in SEP because it can be a life-changing experience that not only enriches a student's education but also broadens their horizons, enhances personal development, and prepares them for an increasingly interconnected and diverse world.

• Cultural Immersion: Exchange programs offer students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture. This firsthand experience will help you gain a deeper understanding of other cultures, traditions, and ways of life.

• Personal Growth: Exchange programs often take students out of their comfort zones. This can lead to personal growth and development as they learn to adapt to new environments, handle challenges, and become more independent. Here in Singapore, most of us live with our parents and they take make sure many things are settled for us like meals and laundry. When you actually get to live on your own in a another country, you will definitely feel the weight of these responsibilities you did not have to bear before, but it will allow you to take ownership of your personal well-being, leading you to the pinnacle of personal growth.

• Educational Enrichment: The partner universities offer a myriad of modules for every faculty, lot of which are not offered here in NUS.This means you may get to study interesting modules that, access different teaching methods, or gain insights from professors and students in another country, which will help you gain more knowledge in whatever field of study of your interest. You could also choose to study subjects that are not related to your major and are not offered in NUS, which is a great opportunity.

• Networking and Relationships: Exchange programs provide opportunities to make international friends, build global networks, and develop lifelong relationships with people from diverse backgrounds. These connections can be extremely valuable. Professionally speaking, if you were to ever venture for opportunities overseas, these friends that you make during exchange could be of a really big help to you.

• Travel Opportunities: Being in a different country often makes travel to nearby regions more accessible. Students can explore new places and have unique travel experiences during their exchange. There is nothing more memorable than having the chance to travel with your friends in your youth.

Application Process

There are two rounds of application for SEP in NUS, Round 1 and Round 2. Round 1 has more partner universities available, while Round 2 has only limited slots since it consists largely of spots that were not taken up in Round 1. So, Make sure you try to apply in Round 1, as your chances of securing a spot in  a partner university of your choice is higher. If you don’t manage to get a spot in Round 1, you can go on to apply again in Round 2.  

You can go on exchange anywhere from Year 1 Semester 2 to Year 4 Semester 1 (varies according to faculty), meaning you can apply starting from Year 1 Semester 2. Students usually start applying in Year 2 Semester 1, so that they have done enough modules in NUS to plan the higher level modules to do during exchange accordingly. Take note that you have to apply at least a year before the time when you actually want to go on exchange. Some universities (mostly UK) only allow incoming exchangers for semester 2 or a full year.  

As for the application itself, you can put up to five choices of partner universities and rank them according to your preference. You also have to submit a short personal statement explaining why being able to go on exchange is important to you. You also have to submit a preliminary study plan with information about which modules you want to take in the partner university, and how you would like to map your modules. Module mapping can be a very tedious process so let’s see how to take it step by step!

Module Mapping Star

Module mapping is a process where you find modules in the partner universities that you think is similar enough to be equivalents of modules here in NUS, and map them, meaning you can complete the equivalent module in the partner university overseas during exchange, and it will be treated as though you completed the module in NUS, since it is deemed to be equal in content. You can submit your module mapping requests after receiving and accepting your exchange offer, but it is subject to approval from your home faculty. As for Economics students, do note that you cannot map your core economics modules like EC110E, EC2101/2102, EC3101/3102 etc., or modules of level 4K or above, with modules in the partner university, and so you have to plan your exchange such that these modules can be completed here in NUS. There are a lot of other economics modules that can be mapped and we have collated information about which modules from NUS that can be mapped to which modules from which partner university, which will help you immensely as you try to do module mapping.

FAQ

Answer many common but pressing questions about SEP.