NTU has now allowed international students who are current residents on campus to keep their places “on an exceptional basis, regardless of their hall points. Photo: Google Street View
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has now allowed international students who are current residents on campus to keep their places “on an exceptional basis, regardless of their hall points, in view of the challenges to secure alternative off-campus housing due to COVID-19”, reported TODAY.
The move comes after NTU’s imposition of a student hostels quota due to COVID-19 restrictions caused an uproar among students.
In fact, the petition for NTU to reconsider students’ applications already gathered over 4,000 signatures by midnight on 1 July.
Read also: NTU Hall Alternatives: 11 Cheapest HDB Rooms for Rent Nearby
Singaporean students at NTU, who had their housing application rejected, acknowledge that foreign students were in a worse situation than them, but shared that they also felt frustrated since they had not been informed of the new on-campus housing quota.
“We have since carefully reviewed the hall capacity, bearing in mind that vaccinations are now well underway and there are other safe management measures that we intend to apply,” said NTU as quoted by TODAY.
“Hence, we have opened up more hall places and reached out to new successful applicants today.”
In view of the school’s two-year guaranteed hall stay policy, applicants who will be in Year 1 and 2 will get a hall place.
NTU revealed that hall places will also be allocated to active hall residents with full points for hall participation.
“Under NTU’s campus housing policy, new students are guaranteed on-campus housing in a hall for the first two years of study. Senior students will have to take part in co-curricular activities on campus to secure points that qualify them for housing in the following year,” said TODAY.
The Hall Admin Offices will contact students in the next week on their room arrangement, said NTU, noting that students may be assigned to a different room or hall to adhere to COVID-19 regulations.
International students welcomed the university’s decision, with one student saying he is now “definitely less worried”.
“While I’m relieved that NTU has been prompt in its reply in this matter, some of the international students have not received the email yet, so I’m concerned if they might be left out,” said a 23-year-old Vietnamese student, who wanted to be identified only as HV.
Another Vietnamese student, Nora Le, is “partially relieved as more or less, there is an official response from school”.
“And I know that finally, I can continue studying without worrying about the expensive living fees outside the school,” the third-year linguistics and multilingual studies major told TODAY.
“I am still right to choose NTU in my studies abroad. I understand that there is no perfect university. But what I need from a university is its timely reaction to the needs of international students who do not enjoy many privileges when choosing to pursue their degree overseas.”
Pei Chenge, a 25-year-old Chinese student, said she is also “very relieved”.
“As I was looking for rental flats, prices have been rocketing and demand is high. So I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get a place to stay. But the email is rather vague so I still don’t dare to take the risk and cancel all the viewings,” the fourth-year undergraduate in NTU’s public policy and global affairs programme said.
“I hope NTU can confirm our rooms as soon as possible,” Pei told TODAY.
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Victor Kang, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact him about this story, email: victorkang@propertyguru.com.sg
