On 14 October 2015, USPians had a frank conversation with the management of USP, clarifying any concerns they had. The “Don’t USPeculate” Dialogue Session is an initiative from the Academics and General Affairs subcommittee, and served as a platform for the USP Management Team and the USP Executive Committee to reveal future plans for the programme and include USPians in the development of the programme.
The session was run by USP Associate Director Assoc. Prof. Daniel and USP Manager Sandra Walther. Exciting new modules, updates in exchange programmes, future plans of a more cohesive environment and scholarships – these are just a few of the updates that were provided by the USP management.
This initiative ensured that USPians are kept in the loop of what the USP management is planning behind-the-scenes. Students who attended the dialogue session left that evening better informed of the upcoming plans of USP.
“It’s definitely good because it’s going to benefit the future generations of our USP juniors… they would get a lot of opportunities that the seniors did not manage to get,” said Woon Yeow, a Year 3 Business and Accountancy student, talking about the updates.
Plans of potential developments also sparked some discussion among students.
Commenting on the possibility of more integration between the different Premier Scholars’ Programmes (PSP), Shuhan, a Year 2 USP scholar studying Biological Sciences, called it “an interesting concept”. But we have to take note of issues of identity, he added.
Apart from the updates provided, there was a lengthy Q&A session led by Assoc. Prof. Daniel and Sandra. This Q&A session helped to address the concerns and doubts of the student body, ranging from issues of curriculum to admissions.
Overall, the event succeeded in facilitating communication between the USP management and student body.
When we spoke to Ms Sandra Walther, she said that it was “encouraging to receive such positive feedback from students attending the Dialogue Session”.
