NUS Youth Programmes FAQs

The NUS Youth Programme is a non-credit bearing short programme specially curated for high school, pre-university, and undergraduate students, empowering them to discover their potential, make impactful decisions, and develop essential skills for their future.

Our 1-week and 2-week on-campus Youth Programmes provide authentic and immersive experiences for participants to:

• Get a taste of an international learning experience at Singapore's flagship university.
• Be part of a high-quality, hands-on learning journey led by distinguished NUS faculty members who have mentored generations of change-makers.
• Better understand the NUS culture by interacting with current undergraduate and graduate students and learning about the different study opportunities here.
• Work on group projects with fellow peers, revolving around real-life issues that the world currently faces.
• Explore the unique cultural landscape of Singapore and Southeast Asia through learning journeys during your visit to Singapore.

Conducted over 2 to 6 weeks, our in-depth online Youth Programmes aim to help participants expand their domain knowledge and dive deeper into a particular area they are interested in, get inspired by new ideas and have access to the authentic NUS learning experiences through close-up interactions with NUS faculty members. In addition, you will benefit from engaging in discussions with a wider student group of diverse international profiles.

Upon successful completion of the programme and fulfilling the required assessment criteria, you will receive a Certificate of Completion issued by the National University of Singapore. This certificate is provided in electronic format through the official NUS certificate platform, Accredible, and includes a verification QR code on the certificate. By scanning the QR code, you will be directed to your Certificate page on Accredible, where you can view the following information:

• Credential Verification status and Verify Credential option
• Issuer of the Certificate – National University of Singapore
• Programme dates and duration
• Programme outline and learning outcomes

A sample of Certificate of Completion.

Note: Since June 2020, all certificates for NUS Youth Programmes have been issued through the Accredible platform. These certificates are officially recognized by the National University of Singapore and verifiable through Accredible platform. Certificates not issued through the Accredible platform and not certified by the National University of Singapore are considered unofficial documents.

Apart from e-Certificate of Completion, you will also receive an Assessment Report from the hosting faculty/ school upon successful completion. This Assessment Report is provided in electrical format, and contains the learning outcome, programme dates, duration, and your grade.

A sample of Assessment Report.

The Youth Programmes, on-campus and online, are organised by National University of Singapore. Yes, it is an official non-credit bearing short programme from the University.

If you have any further question on whether a particular summer/winter programme is offered by the University, do check out the following course calendars:

1. Open Enrolment Programmes
2. Other NUS Summer Programmes

NUS is committed to deploying the best of its faculty and faculty associates to design and deliver the programmes. Our programmes are curated and delivered by NUS academic and research faculties and facilitated by experienced teaching assistants for hands-on components.

High school and pre-university students between 15 and 18 years old, and undergraduate students are eligible to participate in our programmes. You should be at least 15 years old before the programme starts.

We offer both group and individual sign-ups for the NUS Youth Programmes:

Individuals:

For high school and pre-university students, explore our specially curated Open Enrolment programme, typically scheduled in June and December.

For undergraduate students, explore the summer oppurtunities available at NUS through: NUS Summer Programmes.

Groups:

For institutions/ organisations looking for customised programmes, kindly submit your request here. We will get in touch with you through email for further enquiry.

As all the programmes are conducted in English, you should be able to read, write, and communicate in English fluently.

Subject-specific prerequisites can be found on the respective programme pages.

Regardless of online or on-campus programme, NUS Youth Programmes are hosted on NUS’s learning management system, Canvas. A personal Canvas account will be assigned to you 1 week before the start of the programme.

You will receive your lecture notes, reading materials, and complete assignments and quizzes through the Canvas platform. During the programme, you should check the Canvas Announcement for updates from your instructor/course administrator, including instruction on assignment submission, quiz reminder, etc.

One week before the programme starts, your course coordinator will contact you through email, or through your chaperone if you are attending a Youth Programme through local partner, the Canvas log-in details.

Remember to check your browser version and settings before logging in. You are strongly encouraged to access Canvas Support page to verify whether your browser is up-to-date.

You will first receive a pre-course email from your course coordinator/ chaperone with instructions on account set-up and activation. An invitation email from the Canvas @ NUS (notifications@instructure.com) will follow subsequently, sent to the email address that you have provided to the coordinator when registering for the programme.

Once you have received the above invitation email from the Canvas @ NUS, you can navigate to Canvas login page.

Your account is the registered email address with NUS SCALE; your course coordinator will send you the default password formula in welcome email, 1 week before the programme starts.

Please follow the steps shown in the Canvas Student Guide for NUS Youth Programme participants below to complete your account activation.

Click Non-NUS User, the system will direct you to the sign-in page.

Enter your email address & default password and click Log In to log into Canvas.

For more information on Canvas account and usage, please refer to:

1. NUS Canvas Guide for Youth Programme Participants.
2. NUS Wiki - Canvas Student User Guide

Please read through the following sections of the Canvas Student User Guide to understand the important features/functions used in our programmes:

1. Home
2. Announcements
3. Discussions
4. Modules
5. Assignments
6. People and Groups
7. Calendar
8. Recommended browsers and devices

Once you have successfully logged into Canvas, you will see the following floating notification messages on top of the screen: “You have been invited to join XXXX with the following role: Student.” Click “Accept” to join the course.

You are strongly encouraged to change your Canvas account password. For detailed steps on changing password, refer to NUS Canvas Guide for Youth Programme Participants (hyperlink to PDF) for more information.

After successfully changed your password, you may click on the course title or cover page under “Dashboard” to start your first Canvas course with NUS.

When you go into the Canvas Course, you will see the Home page with tabs to each learning block - “Module”.

Click the tab “NUS Terms and Conditions” to read the NUS policies.

Read all Terms and Conditions carefully:

• NUS Personal Data Notice for Course Participants
• NUS Student Data Protection Policy
• NUS Do Not Call Policy
• NUS Code of Student Conduct
• NUS student Confidentiality Agreement
• NUS Intellectual Property Policy
• NUS Acceptable Use Policy for IT Resources
• NUS Risk Acknowledgement and Consent Form

Then proceed to the next Page read and download the NUS SCALE Youth Programme Administrative Policy. Next, please answer ALL questions in Programme Consent Declaration survey.

You will only be able to access the course content after completing the “Programme Consent Declaration”.

You are encouraged to check the Canvas Student Guide and do a quick fix, before reporting the technical difficulty faced to the respective coordinators.

You are also recommended to use the floating support button (the question mark circled in yellow in the screenshot below) to perform self-troubleshooting.

If you encounter technical difficulties in installing/running software required for class activity/assignments, follow guide provided in the pre-course email to do a self-fix; if the problem persists, you should follow the instruction given by your lecturer/teaching assistant to either upload error message on Canvas Discussion, or email them if their email addresses are provided to you.

You are encouraged to post your questions on the Canvas Discussions or raise your questions during designated Q&A slots in synchronous tutorial/seminar sessions.

No. Additional materials such as e-learning videos, notes and other reading materials would be available in Canvas – Welcome and Resources – Download Centre, and Canvas – Files, for the duration of the programme.

If the programme requires to use a particular software, the installation/ registration guide will be included in the Canvas module.

Synchronous teaching sessions are conducted via Zoom. You will receive the Zoom installation guide in the pre-course email from course coordinator/ chaperone one week before the programme starts and should install desktop version before the first session.

You do not need to register for a Zoom account to join the synchronous sessions. You are required to use your official name as the Display Name for all Zoom sessions, to facilitate attendance taking.

You are required to use a PC and headset when attending synchronous live sessions and watching pre-recorded e-learning videos on Canvas.

A speed test of your internet connection should be conducted before the start of the programme to ensure smooth viewing and video conference experience. Please use the following website for speed test: http://www.speedtest.com.sg/

Below are the minimum bandwidth requirements for Canvas video and Zoom streaming:

• Canvas: recommended to have a minimum Internet speed of 512kbps.
• Zoom: minimum upload and download speed 1.2 Mbps.
• Other system requirements for Zoom group call can be found below:
  https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362023-System-requirements-for-Windows-macOS-and-Linux

Yes.

Zoom recording of synchronous teaching sessions will be released through Canvas Module Wrap Up for you to review. It will be visible to you until the end of the programme, and you are free to watch as many times as you wish. Please note that viewing of Zoom recording cannot be used for attendance taking if you are absent from any synchronous session without prior approval from the instructor.

During synchronous Zoom session:

You can use the “Chat” function to interact with your classmates and t instructors. Please be reminded that you should not spam the channel with chats not relevant to content discussed in the class.

Please follow the following online etiquette:

1. Do not do or say online what you would not do or say in real life.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Be brief and to the point.
4. Refrain from using CAPITIALIZED SENTENCES.
5. Do not post sarcastic or offending chats, respect others’ opinions, and if you disagree, remain respectful.
6. Check the most recent comment before replying to an older comment, avoid repeating what was said.
7. Run spellcheck before posting.

Outside lesson hours:

You can use Canvas Discussions to post, discuss questions with the lecturer, teaching assistant, and your fellow course mates.

Yes, all the programmes have at least 1 group project/assignment component.

Apart from attending synchronous sessions and going through self-directed e-learning materials, you should allocate 4 – 6 hours per week for preparation, assignment, reading material and group presentation. The number of working hours may vary from programme to programme.

As attendance is a crucial assessment criterion for our online programme participants, you are required to seek approval for any absence. You may be granted leave of absence for the following reasons:

1. If you are attending an on-campus programme, you are only allowed to request leave of absence for medical reasons:

If you need to apply for medical leave, please provide valid proof, such as a medical certificate. Medical leave is subject to approval by the hosting faculty. You should inform the course coordinator/chaperone of your medical condition as soon as possible, and submit your medical certificate immediately after visiting a medical professional.

Once the request is approved, you will be required to attend the session through Zoom to obtain the attendance for the session. You will not be awarded an attendance point if you miss the Zoom session.

2. If you are attending an online programme, you are allowed to request leave of absence for medical, academic, and personal reasons:

1. Medical reasons: If you need to apply for medical leave, please provide valid proof, such as a medical or physician’s report. Medical leave is subject to approval by the hosting faculty.


2. Academic reasons: If you have lessons or examinations at your home institute, you may be granted leave. For such requests, please send in the request at least one week before the session date, with valid proof from your home institute, e.g. course timetable, examination timetable, official announcement of a compulsory school event. Academic leave is subject to approval by the hosting faculty.


3. Personal reasons: Personal leave may be granted for reasons such as compassionate grounds or family emergencies. Approval for personal leave is determined by the hosting faculty on a case-by-case basis. You should submit the leave of absence request as soon as possible with supporting documents.

Once your leave of absence is approved, you should view the full recording of the session missed through Canvas to obtain the attendance point.

You are expected to complete and submit individual and/ or group assessments by the given due date. For late submission, marks of that assessment may be deducted i.e. 10% per day late. Please note that assessment submission will not be accepted 3 days after the due date and a zero mark will be given.

You are not allowed to request for extension of the assessment due date, unless on medical or compassionate ground. Please note that approval is subject to the Programme Committee at their sole discretion.

After completing and submitting your assessment, you are required to complete the Post Programme Evaluation during your last session. Your course coordinator will post the QR code to the evaluation service on screen. Kindly note that you need to fill in your full name and email address used for registration in the form, for your course coordinator to identify and update your submission status.

If you failed to submit the Post Programme Evaluation, NUS would not award you the Certificate of Completion.

You should meet the following requirements to be awarded the certificate:

1. Meet a minimum of 85% overall attendance.
2. Complete and pass assessments within the respective given deadline.
3. Complete the Post-Programme Evaluation Survey on Canvas.

NUS will not issue the Certificate of Completion and other documents if you fail to meet ANY of the three requirements listed above.

To fulfil the 85% attendance rate, you should attend at least 85% of the pre-arranged learning activities arranged by NUS.

Example 1: For a 60-minute long Zoom tutorial session, Participant A needs to be present in the meeting room and actively participate in class activity for at least 51 minutes, to be considered as “Present” for this class.

Example 2: For a programme with 6 synchronous session and 5 sets of asynchronous e-learning videos, Participant B missed one synchronous session, and his last-minute leave request was not approved. He attended all other synchronous sessions and completed all asynchronous learning activities within the due date. His final attendance rate is thus 10/11*100% = 90.9% > 85%. He is eligible for Certificate of Completion given that he submitted and passed all assignments and completed the Post Programme Evaluation in time.

Example 3: For a programme with 6 synchronous session and 5 sets of asynchronous e-learning videos, Participant C missed the final presentation Zoom session and his last-minute leave request was not approved. He attended all other synchronous sessions and completed all asynchronous learning activities within due date. His final attendance rate is 10/11*100% = 90.9% > 85%. However, since all participants are required to be present in Final Presentation Zoom session to complete the presentation component of project assignment, no-show without approval is considered as “not completing assessment within given timeline”. He will not be awarded Certificate of Completion, Assessment Report and Reference Letter. If his group were the winning team in Final Project Presentation, he would not receive the Commendation Letter.

You will receive the electronic Certificate of Completion 14 working days after the last day of the programme, under the condition that you have fulfilled all three requirements:

1. Meet a minimum of 85% overall attendance rate.
2. Complete and pass assessments within the respective given deadline; and
3. Complete the Post-Programme Evaluation.

You will be notified via registered email account when the certificate is ready.

Accredible is the official e-certificate platform used by National University of Singapore. Add this email address: credentials@se.nus.edu.sg to your mailbox whitelist / approved sender list before the course starts, to avoid email server blocking notification from Accredible.

Below is a screenshot of the sample email notification:

Search your spam folder if you are unable to find the above email in your inbox. If the certificate is not delivered to you, approach your programme coordinator for re-issuing of the certificate.

You may refer to this video guide on how to use your Accredible certificates.

No, there is no expiry date.

No, NUS Youth Programme does not bear NUS module credits. Request to issue separate documents for the purpose of credit transfer will not be processed.