Singapore University of Technology and Design

Location

The urban campus of SUTD is situated at Changi, Singapore in Changi Business Park located next to the Upper Changi MRT station). It is easily accessible to multiple MRT stations for students living off-campus. There are lots of restaurants, grocery stores and other essential services located near the campus. SUTD is far from the other campuses like NUS and NTU.

Campus

The International Design Centre (IDC) is based both in Singapore and in Cambridge, Massachusetts with academic and industrial partners from around the world. Facilities are a lot newer than NUS or NTU. The classrooms at SUTD have whiteboards in all directions along with many projectors and a smart board. All classrooms are air-conditioned, expansive and clean. Unlike the other three universities in Singapore, SUTD has done away with the concept of separate buildings for different disciplines. Instead, classrooms, laboratories, meeting rooms are spread over separate blocks used by all kinds of students.
There is a facility called Fab Labs which is a room full of 3D printers of various kinds and other machinery making it a perfect workplace. This fabrication lab is the largest of its kind in Asia. The SUTD-MIT International Design Centre (IDC) is the world’s premier hub for technologically innovative design. Film star Jackie Chan has donated four antique Chinese buildings on SUTD campus. There is a much talked about sculpture of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew cast by contemporary French artist-sculptor Nacera Kainou as a birthday present to him.

Residing Options

It is compulsory for undergraduate students to live on campus in their first year. SUTD has 3 student housing blocks. One block has 12 floors. Each block has a community toilet, mini-pantry, communal kitchen, mini kitchen, laundry rooms, meeting rooms, study rooms. Some of the private housing (off-campus) facilities (each close to one more MRT stations) are Anglican House, Novena International Students Hostel, Palm & Oak, CSL Selegie Student Hostel, etc. For graduate students, the incoming students are given higher priority than the second year students. The housing on campus ranges from S$1200 to S$4000.

Faculty

Faculty to student ratio is 1:11. There is a 16-week internship designed for the overall growth of undergraduates. Undergraduate courses take about three and a half years to finish, graduating nine months earlier than NTU or NUS students. The masters’ degree is a two-year full-time degree offered in collaboration with MIT, one year in the US, that gives a diverse learning experience to students.
The pedagogy at SUTD focuses on a unique ‘outside-in' approach where the university means to consider the industry needs and include in the curriculum. Students are encouraged to follow the ‘can-do' spirit which may lead them to innovate, in whatever field they are in. This makes students more hands-on learners and it helps in their future jobs too. Studies are not going to be a cakewalk though, hard work is must here. Nevertheless, if you get tired of doing an Engineering degree, 1/4th of your term modules will have HASS (Humanities and Social Arts) where you will choose subjects such as "Ethics in Leadership", ‘Psychology' and the ‘Many Lives of Satan'.