NUS offering module to better prepare its students for the workplace

SINGAPORE — Second-year students at National University of Singapore (NUS) will get a nudge to start thinking about their career plans through a new module that will get them ready for life in the workplace. 

To start in the second half of this year, the optional module called Career-ready will help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset, practice the ability to work collaboratively and promote diverse thinking.

It complements another module launched earlier called HeadStart, which equips students with skills to market themselves for scholarships, exchange programmes and internships. 

Ms Crystal Lim-Leahy, director of the NUS Centre for Future-ready Graduates (CFG), said Career-ready is aimed at students who have already secured a job after university and have no need to learn interviewing skills. 

“HeadStart … is (about) interviewing techniques, CV writing, resume writing; now we’re also going into negotiations, pitching, networking,” she said yesterday at the NUS Career Fair, which took place today (Feb 1) and will be held again on Friday. 

Based on the previous intakes at HeadStart, the centre is expecting at least 3,000 students to sign up for Career-ready.

These modules are part of NUS’ efforts to better prepare its students for life after graduation. In January, the university launched Roots and Wings, a foundational life-skills programme for NUS freshmen to pick up personal and interpersonal skills. 

Over 2,100 NUS undergraduates are currently going through Roots and Wings 1.0, a 20-hour mandatory programme that runs throughout the semester, and includes two interactive seminars and seven e-modules on subjects such as focus, awareness, sensemaking, empathic communication and resilience. 

For example, students are taught to define their values and visions through experiential exercises.

Students can also opt to join Roots and Wings 2.0, a more interactive version of the programme that goes deeper into the neuroscience and psychology of the first programme, and carries four modular credits. 

These students will also participate in a capstone project to co-develop the content for the next batch of students. It is currently in the pilot stage and is offered to 100 self-selected students.

Freshman Koh Kang Zhi, who is in NUS School of Design and Environment, said of his experience in Roots and Wings 1.0: “We learnt personal life skills … so that we are prepared for our next few years in university and, subsequently, in our future jobs. A lot of these soft skills, I believe they cannot be taught to you through theories or reading (via) the Internet, so they put you through experiences to learn all these concepts.”

NUS will be investing a total of S$10 million over three years to increase the number of professional staff at CFG and to provide funding for all CFG projects.