INFORMATION FOR INCOMING EXCHANGE STUDENTS

Arrival in Singapore

Incoming exchange students are advised to arrive in Singapore two weeks before the start of Semester to ensure that you have sufficient time to settle down.

You are required to complete registration formalities with the NUS Registrar's Office prior and after you arrive in Singapore. The NUS Office of Student Affairs also conducts an International Student Orientation Briefing. These activities normally take place 1-2 weeks prior to the start of semester. More information about these and the schedule are made available at the Registration Guide sent to students who are admitted.

NUS Law Academic Briefing and Ethical Conduct Class (Mandatory)

The Faculty of Law conducts its own Welcome Briefing for all incoming exchange students. This includes an academic briefing conducted by the Vice-Dean for Academic Affairs during the first week of the semester which will cover matters relating to academic matters, class attendance, assessments, grading policy etc. All exchange students are also required to attend an Ethical Conduct/Plagiarism briefing. The details of the sessions will be sent to you by email.

Academic Calendar

The standard academic calendar consists of two main semesters:

• Semester 1: August - December
• Semester 2: January - May

Each semester normally includes 13 weeks of instruction and 2 weeks of examinations.

Module Selection

Module Descriptions / Class Timetable / Examination Timetable

Information on the Module Descriptions for all elective modules offered, as well as the Class Timetable and Examination Timetable, is available on the Faculty of Law's website: https://law1.nus.edu.sg/student_matters/llb_prog/curriculum_courses.html. Before you select your modules, exchange students are advised to read the general policies on elective modules which are set out on the website HERE.

Selection and Allocation of Modules during Online Application for Admission

At the point of online application for admission to NUS via the Online Application System, you would be required to select and rank the modules you wish to read at NUS. The Admission Letter of Offer from the Registrar's Office in your package would reflect the Law modules allocated to you based on your selection, eligibility and available places.

Module Request (Add/Drop)

Exchange students can participate in Module Registration to submit Module Request to add/drop modules which normally takes place around two weeks prior to semester start date. This is where you will be able to request for changes to your allocated modules by requesting to add or drop modules. Allocation of modules will be subject to eligibility and available places. More information can be found on ModReg website found here: https://nus.edu.sg/ModReg/index.html.

Number of Modules and Credits

All exchange students are to choose from the elective modules that are available to NUS Third and Final year LLB students. This would refer to law electives with module codes of Level 4000 i.e. LL4XXXV / LL4XXX.

The home institution decides how many modules or credits their students must read at NUS. In some instances, home institutions reserve the discretion to approve the list of modules taken by their students at NUS.

Thus, in determining the number of modules/credits to request for, exchange students should seek advice and permission from their home university on (a) the list of modules as well as (b) the minimum or maximum number of credits they are required to read while on exchange at NUS.

NUS law students typically take 20-23 credits per semester, which is the maximum allowable load. The minimum credits required for the purpose of obtaining a Student's Pass to do an exchange at NUS is 12 credits. Exchange students at NUS thus normally take 12 to 16 credits of modules per semester. Students who have never studied law in English or who come from civil law jurisdictions are advised to take 12-16 credits if their home university permits it.

The NUS Faculty of Law offers a wide range of elective modules. Non-graduating students are advised to read elective modules that are not available in your home university, especially modules that will provide an Asian or Singapore perspective on legal issues. The following are popular categories of modules:

Advice on subjects with prerequisites, preclusions and/or co-requisites

Most law electives will have prerequisites and some have preclusions or co-requisites. Exchange students must check and ensure that they fulfill the required prerequisites, preclusions or co-requisites when selecting modules.

Non-graduating students have, in some cases, experienced difficulties when choosing advanced courses in the corporate and commercial areas because they lack the requisite common law background for such courses. Do think carefully about your course choices, if this is so. Certain elective courses also have specific prerequisites. For example, several advanced courses in the corporate and financial services area are only available to students who have done Company Law or an equivalent course in Corporations Law in a common law jurisdiction. You are strongly advised to ensure that you fulfill the required prerequisites BEFORE applying for such modules.

Language proficiency: As the medium of instruction at NUS is English, our expectation is that students have the competence in English to perform satisfactorily in the elective courses that they are registered for. Students are advised to consider their language ability carefully when choosing their modules and should pay attention to the modes of assessment for their courses when looking at their overall workload.

Advice for students from non-common law jurisdiction

Non-graduating students from law schools in non-common law countries would, however, usually not have studied certain basic common law modules such as Principles of Property Law, Equity & Trusts, and you may not be familiar with common law methods of reasoning and analysis. You may thus be at a severe disadvantage if you choose to read advanced elective modules that require a background in the common law. Such modules have a very heavy reading list of cases, and experience has shown that students from non-common law jurisdictions who opt for such modules suffer a disadvantage.

Consequently, non-graduating students from non-common law jurisdictions are generally advised not to choose from the following modules:

Modules Not Available to Non-Graduating Students (NGE & NGNE)

Elective Modules
The following modules are not open to exchange students:

LLB Core Compulsory Modules
Non-graduating students are not permitted to read the compulsory law modules that NUS students read during their first two years of law studies. Please see here for more information.

Post-Graduate Compulsory Modules

Two post-graduate modules that are designed specifically to meet the needs of foreign LLM students from non-common law countries are also not open for selection by non-graduating students. These modules are:

Modules in Other Faculties (Non-Law Modules)

Non-graduating students may also, with the approval of your home university, take modules in other Faculties at NUS, if your timetable permits and if spaces in those modules are available. You are required to inform the Faculty of Law for our records. However, as an exchange student with the Law faculty, students must read a minimum of 8 Law credits.

Group Medical Insurance Scheme (GMIS)

All full-time students (including Non-Graduating Students) must be covered under the compulsory Group Medical Insurance Scheme. The Scheme comprises of 3 components:

Details of the coverage as well as information on claims procedures are provided at http://www.nus.edu.sg/uhc/general-health/billing-insurance/insurance-matters#local

Important Web Sites

You will find other relevant information at the websites: