<body> For the Engineering Students, By the Engineering Students <body>
Financial aid
Monday, September 29, 2008

Recently, the issue of the financial pressure on students kept coming back to me. It's more of a personal social experience than one that arose out of the nature of my new term of office. Suddenly, it occured to me that I had more friends facing financial pressure in university than in any point of my life. It made me come to revelation that certain things I take for granted were actually not an entitlement. I am new to this whole concept about tuition fees because I always took for granted that mine would be paid for anyway. It's a sheltered kid's mentality. Don't learn. Let me just try to work out the cost of a university education in the NUS Faculty of Engineering per annum.

Direct payment(sch fees): $ 6360
Miscellaneous fees: $216 (https://share.nus.edu.sg/registrar/info/ug/UGMMF.pdf)
Food(in school - lunch only): $2.20 x 13 x 5 x 2= $286 (assuming 13 weeks per sem 5 day week and chai peng everyday)
Transport: 52 x 10 = $520
Stationery + printing: $80

assuming no socialising.... the grand total comes up to...: around 7.5k per year
Which is quite a bit. Consider also this quite a mutant's kind of life with no socialising.
The fact is a few of us out there are actually working to pay that sum and, at the same time, studying hard to avoid getting killed by engineering modules (exaggeration but you get the point).

NUS has an extensive financial assistance framework (which I am still trying to learn more about). So if anyone out there is in need of such assistance please speak to the registrar office (http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/sfau/staff.html). Or if anyone is stressed out, speak to a friend or if you don't mind you can email me. I don't think we should allow financial pressure to kill the joy out of any of our friend's undergraduate life. It shouldn't.

Anyway it's mid terms period now... good luck for your mid terms folks!

Weilei went off at 9:45 PM

Ponders...
Thursday, September 25, 2008

What Engineering meant for Ethan (in his own words, one look and you know it's not my english :)) - food for thought!

For an entity that instantly brings about an image of something inanely mechanical, the Faculty of Engineering brings about with it a different kind of ambience after the sun has set for the day.

From a good vantage point, one would have a pretty darn good view of the sea, or rather, the blistering billions of lights emitted from the industries that swarm our southern islands. But beautiful and admirable they are, a multitude of beacons flooding the darkness of the unknown.

In the grander scheme of things, one would have to really look back and seriously ponder, their purpose for picking the path they have chosen. And thus the question of why any one of us would have chosen to pursue one of the more demanding courses available anywhere. (Honestly, no offence meant to our friendly neighbours here in NUS right across the road, the Faculty of ASS. Oops, I mean, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.)

Whatever it may be, but for lack of an even nobler motive, perhaps we just want to make a difference, to the best of our abilities. Granted that we don’t dish out paracetemol by the dozens daily, and most of us do come across as geeky to the majority (thank goodness for geeky cute). But honestly, one would have to agree that towards the benefit and betterment of the common man, Engineers really do/did have a part to play in it after all.

I am an Engineer, in my profession I take deep pride. To it I owe solemn obligations.

Since the Stone Age, human progress has been spurred by the engineering genius. Engineers have made usable Nature’s vast resources of material and energy for Mankind’s benefit. Engineers have vitalized and turned to practical use the principles of science and the means of technology. Were it not for this heritage of accumulated experience, my efforts would be feeble.

As an Engineer, I pledge to practice integrity and fair dealing, tolerance and respect, and to uphold devotion to the standards and the dignity of my profession, conscious always that my skill carries with it the obligation to serve humanity by making the best use of the Earth’s precious wealth.

As an Engineer, in humility and with the need for Divine guidance, I shall participate in none but honest enterprises. When needed, my skills and knowledge shall be given without reservation for public good. In the performance of duty and in fidelity to my profession, I shall give the utmost.

Weilei went off at 12:54 AM

IFG Finale
Sunday, September 21, 2008

Congrats to all Engineering sportsmen/sportswomen who did us proud this year :) we are champions thanks to your sweat and toil!

Weilei went off at 1:52 AM

Engineering Alumni and Social Responsibility
Friday, September 19, 2008

We had a fruitful meeting with Engineering Alumni of Singapore last week. They are a bunch of friendly seniors. Wrong they are senior's senior's senior's............................ senior. Mr Gan, the president of the EAS kept emphasising on Prof Shim's "Engineer help Engineer" slogan which was very encouraging. Just to keep you guys updated on the exciting events coming up....
1. Networking night for all Engineering students on 17 October Friday
2. Social Night/AGM for EAS on 12/12/08
3. Dean's Fund for needy students (in planning)
4. Mentorship programme by members of EAS
5. Increased involvement of faculty staff on engin club events
6. Past vs present games day (alumni vs current students)

Items 3 to 6 are still in the progress of planning... we hope to bring them to you real soon so stay tuned! For items 1 and 2, the admission is free and you would be treated to lotsa good food at the end of it so ppl interested please leave a tag or email me at weilei@enginclub.com

Anyway let's talk about social responsibility this time :)
Voting
The faculty is a community. I really hate to think that it may turn into a facility if we don't do anything to create strong bonds. Start with the basics... Every Engineering student is entitled to vote for the Engin Club MC members and this entitlement is his/her natural right and an exhibition of social responsibility. Yes, it may seem unrelated thus far, but I believe this is the first step to being responsible to our community. Bring it a step further, voting in the nation - responsibility to our country. We make a statement - we care about our destiny. We care about the community. We are matured enough to make the most responsible and deliberate choice.
Speaking up
Not everyone is blessed with the gift of the gap. I am not (exactly). But I wish to believe I am courageous enough to speak up against what is grossly against my principles. Speaking up is proclaiming a stand. I don't exactly refer to participating more actively in tutorial and asking questions even though you know the answer, just to generate accoustic wave in the classroom (oh well but such enthusiasm is great too). I refer to speaking up for your rights. Speaking up against things that you don't like. Speaking for things that feel for. Such is character. One of the most worthy and valuable asset you'd ever possess in your life. I make you a promise - I would fight for anything that is against the interests of the Engineering undergraduate population. If you trust that I would, make that stand. Speak up. (of cos we also need to filter the less important issues and the pressing ones) There are other ways. Make it a point to give an honest feedback in the teaching exercise. Nominate the staff you love. (my eg 1108 lecturer got the award - whoever nominated her... you did a great job). Help those who are weak to improve by providing feedback. Speak for your rights and wat affects your interest.
Interact
This is the last thing I am going to ask of you. I will surprise you by not mentioning things like participate in our events because really not everyone enjoys events like camps, engin day etc. But what's very important is the need for all of us to interact. Those who go the extra mile to know all your tutorial mates in your different tutorials - I salute you. For those who are more shy like yours truly, interact actively with your present friends. Build a friendship that will last. University friends can be lasting. I found mine. Have you? We are all social bees. Make friends. Life long friends.

3 things.... VIS - vote, speak, interact. That's all I plead of you. :) Anyone who has a stand you want to make - leave tag, drop me a mail weilei@enginclub.com

Weilei went off at 3:13 AM

Existence and change
Saturday, September 13, 2008

NUS Students' Engineering Club is the official union (student) representative of all Engineering undergraduates in NUS. Every management committee member, regardless of his portfolio, is but a member of the team put into office to protect the interests of our undergraduates.

The way we operated in the past years may not have shown you what we could have done, other than organising activities and camps. It may not seem like we were in the business of representing our students. In this term, I would, as much as I possibly can, contribute to enable a more transparent dealing and interaction between Engin Club and our students.

This is the primary reason for the existence of this blog - A rambling space for me to impress upon anyone that change needs a conscious effort and we can be part of it. At the end of the day, even if I fail after one year of nagging, I could have influenced another soul to continue this change after I step down.

What change? A great institution has a soul. It has a character. The NUS Faculty of Engineering is a good institution but not a great one (yet). The hardware and research facilities are there. The brains are there. The cutting technology is there. The population is there.
BUT the people are not there. When we come together, there is no character, there is no soul. We do not speak common language. We lack that commonest. We lack that culture.

The simplest of things all. How many of us can name who dean is, his background etc. Who knows the Vice Dean of undergrad? I don't intend this post to be a finger pointing session. In fact, I just want to tell you how much I wish, at the end of 4 years, I would want to step back to this institution because it has molded me as a person. How much I wish I would love the culture I was in during my university life.

Now to cut things short I just want to show you a video by Randy Pausch. Perhaps one day... we could have such a rich culture in our faculty...



Anyway for those who don't Randy Pausch. here's his bio~
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch
very much like tuesdays with morrie~

Weilei went off at 12:37 AM

For the students By the students
Friday, September 12, 2008

Why Engineering?
Growing up is a process which shape us to what we are and, perhaps, what we dream to be. There was once, I dreamt of being a doctor. Once, I dreamt of being a cop, a prison service officer, a regular soldier, of selling roti prata and of being an entrepreneur. The dreams never stopped. Then came the highly awaited university life. I was fortunate enough to be presented a myriad of choices in terms of education. I chose engineering and business, so here I am in NUS, writing this blog, hoping to influence some minds out there, through my feeble attempts. Hoping to contribute to the making of a great institution out of a good one.

I am part of the 31st management committee, NUS Students' Engineering Club. My portfolio is a long, tongue twisting and ever-oh-so-extra name which I coined myself - Honorary Secretary for Student Affairs and External Relations. Right that's all I am going to say about my job for now because there is better use for this first blog entry.

First I need to establish the fact - I like engineering. Call me a geek, but everytime I walk past a car I think of how they model it in CAD. Every time I walk past our bus shelter I think of why the "I" beam is used. GEEK.
Second there is no doubt the NUS Faculty of Engineering is amongst the top 10 in the world ranked by THES.
Third there is no question about how our professors' papers get quoted increasingly frequently over the years.
Fourth the skewed bell curve is showing how smart you need to be to get a CAP 5.
Fifth there is great uncertainty in how many of us would return, in kind or in person, to the faculty when we graduate. What a spoiler 5th point. :P
Does being an Engineering student in NUS make you beam with pride?
Think about it.
Think hard.

Weilei went off at 1:26 AM