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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - TODAY: We must sayang FT students more..</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">4:56 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 4) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>8798.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>Review support for foreign students
By Neo Chai Chin, TODAY | Posted: 09 March 2009 1213 hrs
SINGAPORE - Thus far, they appear to be two unrelated tragedies, though some coincidences have captured attention Mr Zhou Zheng had started work last Monday, the same day Mr David Hartanto Widjaja died, and both are said to have worked in the same laboratory at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (SEEE).
But the two deaths occuring within a week at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) — one an Indonesian final-year student, the other a project officer from China who had graduated from NTU a year ago — have underlined similar concerns.
Is enough support being given to students from overseas, including those pursuing post-graduate studies, who are feeling the pressure?
One SEEE Master of Science student from China told TODAY he felt more opportunities must be created, especially for post-graduate students, to “talk to someone else”.
“There are no opportunities to interact.We just sit in the lab all day,” said the 22-year-old, who declined to be named. And since post-graduate students stay off-campus or at campus apartments — which are unlike the livelier residence halls for undergraduates — there is less chance of abnormal behaviour being noticed by someone, he added.
It was at a Nanyang Heights staff apartment, late on Friday night, that Mr Zhou was found hanged.
The 24-year-old had graduated with a Second-class Upper Honours degree last July. But within two months of finding employment after graduation, he was laid off. He joined NTU on March 2.
Mr Ke Chang, a friend who knew him when he was an undergraduate, said Mr Zhou played tennis, had many friends and seemed a “kai lang” (Mandarin for cheerful) person. But staff who stayed at Nanyang Heights Block 101C — where Mr Zhou was bunking in temporarily with friends — kept mostly to themselves.
Said one resident “People move in and out a lot, they don’t stay for the long term. We live and work here, so you’d want to maintain a certain level of privacy.”
When contacted, Dr Lily Neo, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, agreed the two deaths have put the welfare of new foreign students in the spotlight. She said she would examine current measures to help them settle in their new environment.
Fellow MP Josephine Teo said with foreign students now coming from more countries like India and China, and with university life becoming more demanding, more can perhaps be done at the university level. “It would be an interesting issue to discuss in Parliament,” she said.
In response to TODAY’S queries, a varsity spokesman said its president Su Guaning had urged everyone in the NTU community to “work harder to help detect signs of trouble and to get help to where it is needed”.
The spokesman added that Prof Su “has also initiated a comprehensive review on the pastoral care and counselling service, to further enhance the system and process”.
Since Mr Widjaja fell to his death after allegedly stabbing a professor last Monday, there has been a five to seven per cent increase in the number of people visiting NTU’s counsellors. The counselling hotline number has been emailed to the NTU community.
[email protected]
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By Neo Chai Chin, TODAY | Posted: 09 March 2009 1213 hrs
SINGAPORE - Thus far, they appear to be two unrelated tragedies, though some coincidences have captured attention Mr Zhou Zheng had started work last Monday, the same day Mr David Hartanto Widjaja died, and both are said to have worked in the same laboratory at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (SEEE).
But the two deaths occuring within a week at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) — one an Indonesian final-year student, the other a project officer from China who had graduated from NTU a year ago — have underlined similar concerns.
Is enough support being given to students from overseas, including those pursuing post-graduate studies, who are feeling the pressure?
One SEEE Master of Science student from China told TODAY he felt more opportunities must be created, especially for post-graduate students, to “talk to someone else”.
“There are no opportunities to interact.We just sit in the lab all day,” said the 22-year-old, who declined to be named. And since post-graduate students stay off-campus or at campus apartments — which are unlike the livelier residence halls for undergraduates — there is less chance of abnormal behaviour being noticed by someone, he added.
It was at a Nanyang Heights staff apartment, late on Friday night, that Mr Zhou was found hanged.
The 24-year-old had graduated with a Second-class Upper Honours degree last July. But within two months of finding employment after graduation, he was laid off. He joined NTU on March 2.
Mr Ke Chang, a friend who knew him when he was an undergraduate, said Mr Zhou played tennis, had many friends and seemed a “kai lang” (Mandarin for cheerful) person. But staff who stayed at Nanyang Heights Block 101C — where Mr Zhou was bunking in temporarily with friends — kept mostly to themselves.
Said one resident “People move in and out a lot, they don’t stay for the long term. We live and work here, so you’d want to maintain a certain level of privacy.”
When contacted, Dr Lily Neo, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, agreed the two deaths have put the welfare of new foreign students in the spotlight. She said she would examine current measures to help them settle in their new environment.
Fellow MP Josephine Teo said with foreign students now coming from more countries like India and China, and with university life becoming more demanding, more can perhaps be done at the university level. “It would be an interesting issue to discuss in Parliament,” she said.
In response to TODAY’S queries, a varsity spokesman said its president Su Guaning had urged everyone in the NTU community to “work harder to help detect signs of trouble and to get help to where it is needed”.
The spokesman added that Prof Su “has also initiated a comprehensive review on the pastoral care and counselling service, to further enhance the system and process”.
Since Mr Widjaja fell to his death after allegedly stabbing a professor last Monday, there has been a five to seven per cent increase in the number of people visiting NTU’s counsellors. The counselling hotline number has been emailed to the NTU community.
[email protected]
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