Orientation camps to be free for freshmen

Changes aimed at making freshmen orientation programmes across NTU more inclusive, but some organizers say the adjustments are too sudden

By Dawn Puah

Significant changes will take place in freshmen orientation programmes across the university this year in order to promote inclusiveness amongst undergraduates. PHOTO: AUDREY KWOK

Starting next academic year, incoming freshmen will not have to pay orientation programme fees as the university introduces changes to make the orientation process more inclusive.

Incoming students will also be allowed to participate in orientation events without having to undergo a selection process.

The call for greater inclusiveness comes after the university found that many students were missing out on orientation activities.

“Based on past surveys conducted by NTU, less than half of all freshmen had the opportunity to participate in freshmen orientation activities carried out weeks before the start of the academic year,” said a statement on the university’s freshman orientation FAQ page.

The University Orientation Co-ordination Committee has also renamed freshmen orientation camps to “freshmen orienta- tion programmes (FOP)”. The new guidelines are listed in an official document, dated 1 Dec 2015, that was sent to FOP organizers for the upcoming academic year.

The changes will affect all FOPs, such as those organised by schools, clubs and Halls of Residence, to be held from 23 Jul to 5 Aug.

In the guidelines, organisers were instructed not to group participants together or design activities based on gender, nationality, race or “any other characteristic”.

It added that all activities must be conducted in English, and the use of other languages “should not make any student feel excluded”.

Organisers will also have to accept all students who may not have registered but wish to attend. In the past, incoming freshmen were typically required to submit their camp application online.

In some cases, registration was made on a first-come-first-served basis until the camp reached its intake quota. Participants were also required to pay camp fees.

With the new guidelines, orientation programmes will now be fully funded by NTU, so that participants can join for free. Organisers are also prohibited from asking for donations or canvassing for funds.

Mixed feelings

But reactions from organisers of upcoming orientation programmes have been varied.

While full funding from the university would encourage more freshmen to participate and save organisers the trouble of sourcing for sponsorships, some of the new guidelines have made planning orientation activities difficult, said first-year student Harish Sree, 20, FOP chairperson for the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.

These sentiments were shared by Gran Ooi, 24, FOP chairperson for Hall of Residence 12.

Ooi, a third-year School of Humanities and Social Sciences student, said allowing freshmen to participate in activities without having to register beforehand means that his committee will have to plan a programme for up to three times the usual Hall 12 camp intake of about 100 freshmen.

“If we cannot anticipate the number of participants, and this number fluctuates from activity to activity, the planning and organisation of an orientation camp would be chaotic.”

Some organisers also felt the changes were too sudden.

“There is a very big difference between last year and this year,” said Valerie Leo, 22, FOP chairperson for the School of Computer Science and Engineering. “We didn’t have the opportunity to slowly adapt to the changes.”

Su Yu Ping, 22, FOP co-chairperson for the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, also said: “It would be better if changes can be made gradually over a few years, instead of drastic changes.”

Modifications for the better

But these changes have been a work in progress since 2013, and “student leaders have been consulted over the changes to Freshmen Orientation as far back as three years ago,” the university stated on the freshmen orientation website.

Faith Chan, 20, who failed to sign up for her school’s camp last year before the registration closed, welcomed the changes.

She said the new guidelines would allow freshmen to make friends before the semester began.

“It felt quite demoralising going into the first lecture with no one to sit with,” said the first-year student from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

Nicholas Ang, 21, who will enrol in NTU this August, was relieved at the news.

He said: “I’m glad that I won’t be missing out on any of the camps that I want to go for.”

NTU orientation camps previous- ly made the headlines when four students suffered seizures and were hospitalised during Nanyang Business School’s camp in 2014.

Last year, Union Orientation Camp, one of the school’s largest camps, was cancelled after safety measures were found to be “lacking”, the NTU Students’ Union said in a statement then.