NTU Gem Discoverer: Hanyang University

Hanyang International Summer School (HISS)

Hey! This post would cover the pre-departure administrative procedures when you take part in NTU's GEM Discoverer Programme. Basically, for exchange programmes, there are 2 types of programmes in NTU, namely GEM Explorer and GEM Discoverer. GEM Explorer refers to exchanges that typically lasts for a semester while GEM Discoverer refers to short term exchanges. I would be taking part in GEM Discoverer (Summer Studies Programme). 

There are a lot of overseas universities to choose from for the summer studies programme - ranging from UCB, UCLA, UniPenn to LSE, UCL and many many more. Here are some tips if you're intending to take part in GEM Discoverer:

1. Course Matching

This is perhaps one of the greatest concerns to many students. Many of us would prefer to match our CORE courses to the courses offered by the overseas universities. In order for an effective course matching, you may refer to Coursefinder which can be access from iNTU Studentlink. In Coursefinder, you can view the courses that were matched successfully in the previous years. Of course, you'll have to check if the same modules are being offered by your overseas universities.

In addition, do take note of the credit transfer policy for different universities. Most universities allow up to 8 AUs for transfer, however, some have restrictions on the type of courses that can be matched. For instance, for Copenhagen Business School, only GER PEs and UEs can be matched and core courses are not allowed for matching. 

In my case, I have matched the following modules:

1. NTU's Strategic Management (AB3601) for HYU's Strategic Management (BUS4019)

2. NTU's Communication Management Strategies (AB0602) for HYU's Business Communication (BUS2025) 

These two CORE courses have been approved for matching by NBS course coordinators. 

HYU allows students to take up to 3 courses for as part of their HISS programme. I have also signed up for an additional course ISS1076 Digital Studio, which provides an introduction on how to work with images and photoshop. I'm guessing it's going to be interesting! 

2. Cost of Programme

There are mainly two types of programme: 1. Fee-Paying and 2. Exchange

For fee-paying, you'll have to pay additional tuition fees to take part in the exchange programme. HISS is a fee paying programme and since HYU is a partner university of NTU, NTU students get to enjoy 50% off the full tuition fees. For exchange scheme, the tuition fees would be waived but you'll have to pay for all the miscellaneous fees such as accommodation, books, meals and air tickets. 

Here is a cost breakdown for HYU:

Application Fee: 100,000 KRW

Tuition Fee: 1,400,000 KRW (50% of the original 2,800,000 KRW)

Housing Fee: 500,000 KRW to 800,000 KRW

Apparently, NTU is quite slow in approving overseas exchange programmes, by the time I've received my confirmation and nomination from NTU for HYU, most of the accommodations are fully booked. I'm left with 2 out of the 4 choices. The on-campus dormitory (500,000 KRW) and off-campus dormitory (600,000 KRW) are fully booked and I'll have to choose from URSEOUL (700,000 KRW) or Sunny House Dongdaemun (800,000 KRW). I initially chose URSEOUL but eventually changed to Sunny House as I've accidentally deleted my application form and everything was wiped out (I was confused....). Anyway, Sunny House is the only accommodation that provides single room with private bathroom so I guess if you don't mind living by yourself, you might want to consider Sunny House (Sindang Station) as it's nearer to HYU as compared to URSEOUL (Seoul Station).

You may opt to book your own accommodation from airbnb or other sources such as goshipages in scenarios when you can't get all the available accommodation provided by the school or you would want to stay together with your friends. 

Other pre-departure costs to take note:

Insurance: $70 (From my research, get your insurance from NTU, it's called NTU TravelSure and it's managed by UOI. It's one of the cheapest available and has the necessary coverage)

Air Tickets: $600-$1000, depending on your which airline you would want to fly with. I'm flying with SIA and it costs around $840, it's a promotion price and I've some friends who got their SIA flights at $720 and some at $1.2K. It really depends. 

Bank Charges for Telegraphic Transfer: $61, this might be exclusive for HYU as we are required to do a telegraphic transfer to HYU's bank account. In order to get the best rates and lower your transaction fees, I would recommend using DBS iBanking. When I did my transfer, the rates that I've got is 0.1151 (1 SGD to 868.809 KRW). It's a pretty good deal and through iBanking, you can save ~$10 from the commission fees and the time required to queue at the banks. From what I've heard, apparently OCBC doesn't offer transfer in KRW and my friends transferred using USD through OCBC. HYU accepts USD/KRW so it's not much of an issue.

*Financial Assistance: You can apply for OSP Award/Loan if you need financial assistance. I've applied for the OSP award and I got it, most likely, you'll be able to get it if you're currently eligible for the MOE bursary. 

As for the usage of PSEA account, the PSEA account is meant for reimbursement, meaning that you'll have to incur your expenses and then claim for the amount through PSEA when you get back from the exchange programme. Do request a receipt from your overseas universities if you are intending to claim from your PSEA account. 

3. Administrative Procedures

Take note of all the necessary date for application for NTU GEM Discoverer, which typically opens in January. I got the offer during early February. There are various rounds of application, so don't worry if you didn't apply for it during the first round of application. 

After you received the offer and accepted the offer from NTU, you may proceed to HYU's HISS website to apply for the programme. Fill in the form and wait for the payment details to appear and after you've made the payment, you'll have to wait for your student number for course registration. 

The course registration for HYU is similar to NTU's first come first serve basis, so be sure to camp in front of the computer when the course registration opens to get all your preferred course and time slots. I got all my desired time slots and I'm sure you can do it as well, after all, NTU has its STAR WARS to train all our students. 

4. Plan and Enjoy your trip! 

Last but not least, plan and enjoy your trip! HYU provides field trips such as city tour, heritage tour, mud festival activity and NANTA show for HISS participants on fridays. I'm guessing it's optional and if you're not going for these trips, perhaps, you could take a trip out of Seoul or even to neighbouring countries such as Japan or even China! 

To end off the post, I wish those who are embarking on their GEM Discoverer programme a safe and enjoyable trip!

NTU NBS: Year 1 Semester 2

Year 1 Semester 2

For NBS students, our modules for Year 1 Semester 2 would also be pre-allocated by the school. I feel that it's kind of good cause we are guaranteed of our places in the various modules to be taken. 

AB0601 Communication Management Fundamentals

Course Format: 

Class Participation (25%)

Social Media Presentation (30%)

Final Oral Presentation (30%)

Final Written Examination (15%)

Attained Score: 

Social Media Presentation (B)

Final Grade: B+

 If you're good at presentation and have remarkable stage presence, this module is likely to be a breeze for you. One point to note is to not forget your presentation script when you're presenting. Know all the sequences in all your presentations (no cue cards allowed). There are 3 individual presentations for this module and it's all recorded. There's like a camera recording all your actions and expressions when you're presenting and my tutor do review these clips a few times before giving us the grades for the individual components of the course. The good news is that out of the 3 presentations, only 2 is graded and it's 60% in total. The workload for this module is fairly light, just some readings and mainly the preparation for the individual presentations. For the written examination, it's held during the last week of the semester and it's most probably email writing. The previous batches has done email writing as well. 

AB1201 Financial Management

Course Format: 

Tutorial Quizzes (5%)

Group Project Presentation (8%)

Group Tutorial Presentation (7%)

Mid Terms (20%)

Final Examination (60%)

Attained Score: 

Mid Terms (18/20)

Final Grade: A

This is a highly competitive module as it is a pre requisite for Banking & Finance Specialisation. The mean score for the mid terms would usually be around 14-15 range. I feel that this module's demand is fair. The need to complete the weekly tutorials cannot be emphasised more. Do note that this module is 50% qualitative and 50% quantitative and you'll be required to know all the concepts and theories learnt throughout the course and explain them well. The final examinations and mid terms shouldn't be a problem if you've consistently practice and revise the concepts. 

AB1301 Business Law

Course Format: 

Class Participation (20%)

Mid Term Written Assignment (20%)

Final Examination (60%)

Attained Score: 

Mid Term Written Assignment (B-)

Final Grade: B+

The 3 main aspects covered in this module is contract law, tort law and agency law. I guess the emphasis of this module is how you frame your arguments to provide appropriate advices for the plaintiff based on the facts given in the case question. Many people told me that this module is easy to score and some of them got A+/A, but I guess it really differs for different people. I relied on the notes that were compiled by the seniors for the finals. I didn't finish the paper, a 20 marks questions was written halfway. I'll have to admit that I have bad time management in exams.

AB1401 Information Technology 

Course Format: 

Class Participation (20%)

Group Report (20%)

Group Case Presentation (10%)

Final Examination (50%)

Attained Score: All Unknown

Final Grade: A

This is a chill module. You'll just have to post your news article pertaining on the topic that was covered during the seminar onto the discussion board for 8 weeks and do an individual presentation (sharing) on the news article if you're chosen. This will contribute to the class participation marks as it's 20% (That's a lot!) For my class, we had discussion every lessons and had to present the group's response to the various questions posed but it's quite relaxing as most questions were more on general knowledge except for some topics, such as hardware, software and telecommunications, which were more technical per se. We were also taught database design and excel functions for this module and I enjoyed it a lot. The group report was the most burdensome thing for the semester. It's 15 pages long, single spaced. It's almost 7.5k words and I feel so accomplished when my group finished the report.

AC1101 Accounting I

Course Format: 

6 Quizzes (5%)

Mid Terms (15%)

Group Report (15%)

Ethical Reasoning Test (5%)

Final Examination (50%)

Attained Score: 

Quizzes (3.5%/5%)

Mid Terms (12%/15%)

Group Report (A-)

Ethical Reasoning Test (A)

Final Grade: B 

This module covers both financial and managerial accounting and introduces various FRS such as FRS 2, FRS 109 and FRS 115. I didn't manage to finish the paper and left a couple of questions blank, the questions that were left blank totaled up to 23 marks. I'll have to say that the paper was fair as it has varying difficulty of questions and obviously, I'm not able to answer all the high-level questions. 

HY0001 Ethics and Moral Reasoning

Course Format: Online

Peer Evaluation (5%)

Discussion Question (10%)

LAMS Sequences (15%)

Quiz (70%)

Final Grade: Pass

This module is fully online and it is part of the 3 1AU modules that you'll have to take as a NTU student. It introduces various ethical principles and you can complete the module in 1 day, if you have the time at the start of the school term. It's only towards the end when I realised that you do not have to wait the the subsequent week before the LAMS sequence is available. I feel so dumb. So, in fact, you can do the whole 13 sequences in a day.