Dean’s List Feedback Session
Last week I received an email in my NUS Email account inviting me to a tea session on Wednesday with one of the Vice Deans of the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, Associate Professor Paulin Straughan. I replied that I would attend, and attend I did. Theresa was also supposed to be there was she was invited but she called for a raincheck because she wasn’t feeling too well. Here’s an excerpt from the invitation letter.
From time to time, we would hold informal tea sessions with our students to solicit feedback as well as suggestions on how we can further improve the quality of an FASS education. These dialogue sessions also provide an opportunity for my colleagues and me to get to know you better, and to find out more about your needs.So I rushed down at 9.30 of a overcast Wednesday morning, completely aware of the fact that I had Government and Politics of Singapore at 10.00 later. I thought that I would just go for the later half of the lecture. I put on one of my white shirts I haven’t worn before. Snappy.
Outside the Dean’s Lounge, was a table with food. In the lounge itself, there were four women seated at the large conference table. Opposite them was what appeared to be three other students, already there for the 9 o’ clock session. There were another two girls outside with me. One was a Chinese Mauritian. The Vice Dean A/P Straughan was a warm and friendly character, who made us feel comfortable talking to her. Altogether, it was 6 students, 4 faculty members. 9 ladies, one poor little boy — me.
In the meeting itself, she talked to us about issues about what they are doing for the student body in general, such as Student Exchange Programmes (SEP) and Internships for FASS students. She also asked us of our perception of the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, on which she said that I hit the head when I gave the comment that “the FASS is easy to get into”. She said that once it was harder to get into the FASS than in the science faculty. And it is harder to get into the FASS as compared to the School of Computing.
She asked us about why we didn’t apply for USP. I didn’t say that I DID apply for USP and I did manage to get in, except that I screwed up my registration so I am not in the USP. I did notify her of my perceived case of Elitism, with an example of the case of that student from the USP in the March NUS Open House who went, “Lets see a show of hands, anybody from RJ? HC? Neighbourhood JCs?” They then said that was pretty uncalled for. The USP is also pretty separate from the rest of the FASS — the USP students get to hang out at the USP block while FASS students don’t feel comfortable there and have no real place to call their own.
They acknowledged that there is a lack of space in FASS. The graduates, the undergraduates and the societies all are jostling for space they can call their own. As the largest faculty in NUS, space is a problem. She expressed that they are keen in getting societies and graduates their own rooms, but alas, not much can be done in the meantime.
They also discussed CORS, our study options, and our module preferences. In front of her were our academic transcripts. She saw my list of Exposure modules last semester and tried to guess my intented major: Political Science. Heck, she guessed correctly. She said my long hair was a giveaway, dammit. I don’t see any other Political Science majors with long hair, its a bloody stereotype. I told them I couldn’t get the Philo modules, and they told me I should have declared both my preferred majors as Philosophy and Political Science. In fact, they encourage people to declare two majors, then drop one later on. They assured us the departments won’t be angry at us.
The other students also told her of their plans. One was a student who was formerly from arts, and then transferred to science, and then transferred back to arts. Others were formerly from NTU and SMU. She then talked about the other courses that other universities were offering, and compared it to the programme the FASS was offering.
It ended about 11.30, with A/P Straughan asking us for emails in which we would include feedback about FASS and to remind our friends who were in the mailing list to email her feedback as well. She also obtained some consensus among those who were there that she would involve us in the FASS Open House later this year. I thanks the Vice Dean, and left. Before I got out of the door, the vice dean reminded me to apologize on her behalf to A/P Hussein Mutalib, and ask what happened during the lecture.
I rushed off to A/P Hussein Mutalib’s lecture. I got in at 11.40am, and the lecture ended 10 minutes after. Not bad, I actually managed to catch some of the lecture. I did as I was told, I saw the professor at the end of the lecture, and apologized. I told him that I was at the tea with A/P Straughan, and he told me that I was in the Dean’s List, she does it all the time. Anyway, the professor was quite congenial about my apology, and if he was irritated he masked it very well.
A lot of new things learnt today.
