Our BBA/BBA(Acc.) program is broad-based, just like its senior, our MBA, which trains managerial leaders and, as a genre, is by far the most popular graduate degree in the world. All leadership programs must be broad-based, because a leader needs to be able to relate (and give instructions) to associates with diverse functional trainings, and the leadership function itself requires knowledge in many areas. The higher the leadership level, the broader the preparation must be: a functional supervisor can afford to specialise and to just do things right, but the General Manager must have that broad helicopter view to do the right things.
Even at the graduate level where specialisation is the norm in other disciplines, leading Business schools worldwide only develop general managers having the simple degree MBA (with no parentheses after the title), who may then hire functional managers with embellished degrees like MBA(Finance) from lower-tiered schools that need to niche in order to attract students. (Our BBA(Accountancy) is so named only as required for professional accreditation purposes.)
Like pre-eminent Management programs globally, we take special care to ensure that Bizaders do not become too narrowly specialised but rather develop to be general and strategic, hence our insistence on a broader base followed by a capstone Strategy module to elevate the perspective of Bizaders to a higher leadership level. It is considerably harder--but more rewarding, especially in the long run--to cultivate a versatile and adaptive CEO mindset than to prepare for expertise in a specific area.
The BBA prepares our students to lead people, control money and direct operations. We thus create opportunities for students to practise managing emotions, people and relationships. We develop students to comprehend business as creating value, via identifying of opportunities and then engineering of the processes of finance, operations and marketing, for meeting the quality-time-cost challenges. These general leadership themes shape our BBA program.
Our core curriculum therefore covers broad areas such as communication, economics, law, analytics, information systems, organisation, human resource, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, ethics, governance and strategy. At least one third of a student's studies consists of electives that may be entirely chosen from outside the Business School, hence providing even more opportunities and intellectual grounding for an expanded perspective.
Our BBA is the contemporary liberal-arts educational experience that broadens the mind, encourages the heart and quickens the spirit.
World-richest Warren Buffett autographing "To NUS -- Warren E Buffett"
Our BBA is generally the hardest to get into, the most rigorous and the richest in student experience. NUS provides an environment where really bright students working together gain a lot of experience in problem solving and strategic thinking. Thus, our graduates are generally the most accomplished. As the program of Singapore's flagship university, we generally attract the best local and international students. Our students carry a normal academic load of 10 modules yearly, one more than others; our academic terms are effectively a little longer: we cut no corners when it comes to preparing the future generations of movers and shakers for the global economy. We inherited the U.K.-style focus on specialised contents with functional depths, while our curricular structure, content delivery and assessment rubric are U.S.-style.
BBA students (Su Hao, Ong Jun Yu, Chen Jianwen, Lee Kok Loong Kenny, Julia Koh Jingwei, Hee Yee Ling Elaine, Chan Yong Ann, Ooi Tong Wei, Liu Liwei, Wu Fengjuan, Sharon Christine Poerwanto, Kang Su Ying Rebecca, Yue Rui Sheng, Zeng Liren) with U.S. President George W. Bush; White House photo, 16 Nov 2006, by Paul Morse.
Our BBA(Acc) program is a variant of our BBA program; it has 13 Accounting modules and 13 non-Accounting Business (including Accounting-related Finance, Information Technology and Law) modules, plus 4 University-Level modules (like Investment Law, Managing Change, Rhetoric, Real Estate Valuation, and Project Control). Hence, our BBA(Acc) is also like an Accountancy program with a Business Administration specialization. Students completing the program can graduate as either BBA(Acc) or BBA.
Our flexible modular program allows students to sequence modules as they like, so long as any module prerequisites are met; there is no prescribed course of study. We customize content delivery to the special needs of students at different levels of study. Entry-level classes generally adopt the didactically sound, effective and consistent lecture-tutorial format (rather than using long weekly discursive and uneven discussion sessions), whereas intermediate and advanced classes benefit from mature interactions found in small-group seminar-style teaching. Almost all modules require at least one project, usually done in groups, for hands-on applications.
Our lecturers are almost all full-time career academics who are therefore easily accessible by students outside of class; professors can be met in the corridors, or students can simply knock on their doors. NUS Business School faculty members hold PhDs from well-known universities in continents around the world. The quality of our Business research output ranked 4th outside North America, and our dons are much sought-after for management consulting and executive education.
Our students leverage on the inter-disciplinary fabric of our comprehensive national university, and are thus able to broaden their curricula with random samplings or with structured Minor (or even second Major) programs (like Psychology, Economics, Statistics, Communications, or Financial Mathematics) from 10 other faculties and schools. Since Business is a popular area with other NUS students, Bizaders learn from other specialists having different majors even while taking Business modules. Our Double Degree, Concurrent Master's and dual Master's programs (+MSc(+MIM), +MPP(+MPA)) for undergraduates are truly cross-discipline, and capable students can also take advantage of a unique NUS provision to put together their own ad hoc double degrees with most departments across campus.
Visitors to our open, expansive and serene suburban campus (159 hectares straddling a motorway) quickly sense the intellectual intensity and comprehensive academic breadth. NUS' Centre for Language Studies, for example, will even have classes for Korean, Hindi and Arabic. There are more student clubs, special interest groups, and residential options on our campus than others'. Our libraries, built up over the years, are unparalled in their extensive collections. NUS' community life and learning environment are the richest; students feel at home here. Our enviable Business alumni network of over 27,000 is built up over more than four decades, and is an invaluable resource for internship and career opportunities.
With heavy Government subsidy, our tuition is kept low so that more deserving students can enjoy the life-transforming education experience together with other burgeoning leaders and managers. There are many full entrance scholarships available, both from NUS and our School, for local and international students. We have a single-minded focus on career preparation right from matriculation to beyond graduation, while we care for students' social, intellectual and leadership developments.
Both NUS and our Business School are generally better ranked internationally. BBA (MBA's namesake) is the definitive name for undergraduate management education in the U.S. Our degree is recognised for entry into relevant top graduate schools the world over. Graduates of our double-degree and concurrent-degree programs gained two separate degree scrolls for having completed the full requirements of two distinct degrees.
Since NUS tends to be the natural first choice for the best foreign universities seeking a partner in this region, exchange students among us are therefore generally from partner universities a league apart from the rest, and BBA students have better options for studying abroad. Students can expect to be invited to more international events, including conferences and competitions. Top students may join the international Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) Honor Society and participate in its activities.
We hold one another to the utmost honour standards. We emphasize leadership skills, experiential learning and a global perspective, hence develop in students among us a marked level of confidence and strategic capability. Bizaders are spoilt for choice in our flexible and comprehensive program for leadership, management and consulting:
BBA+Acc+Hon+EP+CFA+LKY+USP+Trip+Case+LPP+SEP+Oxf+iLEAD+NOC+CP+
Intern+Lang+2Sp+Minor+2Major+DDP/Comm/Comp/Engg/Law+MSc(+MIM)+MPP(+MPA)
We offer a wider scope for nurturing versatile leaders to tackle the bigger issues.
The NUS Business School offers the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Bachelor of Business Administration with Honours (BBA(H)) programs. Students who perform well academically in the BBA program will be offered places in the BBA(H) program. This distinguishes it from NTU's 3-year direct-honours business program. Students in the BBA(H) or BBA(AccH) program invest in an additional year of rigorous training, which may include features like an additional Business Specialisation, a Minor from outside the Business School (e.g. Real Estate), an extra semester abroad, a group Consulting Practicum, an individual Honours Thesis, or completion of the intellectually rich University Scholars Programme (USP). NUS' modular BBA is normally completed in 3 years, but may be covered in 2 years with acceleration. The better BBA students graduate in 3 years with a 30-module Merit degree that corresponds to NTU's 27-module honours.
Passive, bookwormish or non-committal.
Lacking integrity.
The NUS degree shares the name with the popular MBA. Just like the MBA, BBA started as the term most commonly used in North America and then, increasingly, elsewhere.
Admission to our pre-eminent leadership and management talent program has always been very competitive. We facilitate students' social, intellectual and leadership developments, thus gaining alumni that are well-connected and much sought-after. An applicant's academic and other preparations are used to compute an admission score. Our high admission cut-off fluctuates with the quality of each cohort, but is on an upward trend.
Please refer to: http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/IGP/igp.htm.
For transfer applicants, we may consider their CAP/GPA, particular subject grades, CCAs, interview performance, etc., on top of their A Level results / polytechnic GPA.
Please visit our admissions page for details. All admission criteria are formally published on NUS Office of Admissions' web site: http://nus.edu/oam/apply. Generally, for Singapore A-level applicants, GP is used to compute the University Score, but Mother Tongue need not be used; the latter is, however, a requirement.
Students who scored well in relevant subjects at A-Levels or Polytechnics may be given Advanced Placements, i.e., exemptions. This may translate into students being able to graduate earlier.
The number of students admitted into the BBA program is determined by NUS following guidelines from the Singapore Government.
Including dual-degree students, there were over 650 new BBA and students in August 2006, and about 720 new students in August 2007. Henceforth, only up to 700 very select students are projected for each August intake, with a significant portion having no-string-attached scholarships. About a quarter of each cohort is expected to be directly admitted to a Double-Degree (Bachelor + Bachelor) or Concurrent-Degree (Bachelor + Master) program.
NUS' educational governance ensures that, unlike a Minor in an additional field which only requires 6 modules (subjects), a second degree will only be gained when a student has met all its requirements as if it were the only degree. Thus, a judicious cap on double counting allows two degrees to be completed in less than 8 years, but not less than 5 years unless accelerated.
NUS' Accountancy programme has a very broad base in Business, so completing the Accountancy programme also satisfies the requirements of the Business degree. The Accontancy degree is like a Business degree with a double-weighted Accounting.
International students and transfer students may apply from October. Polytechnic and IB students can apply from early February. GCE A-Level students can apply as soon as they know their A-Level results in March. Applicants under all categories should refer to http://nus.edu/oam. Announcement and invitation to apply are made in the newspapers.
Appeals can be lodged online at http://nus.edu/oam, usually from end of May to first week of June. NUS students and students from other local universities are welcome to apply online to transfer to our BBA or BBA(Acc) from about mid-October to mid-November and in February.
The NUS Business School operates on a modular system. Students have the flexibility to design their curriculum and to pace their studies. They also have the freedom to take modules (including Specialisation modules) in the sequence they prefer, provided any module prerequisites are met. While students may freely customize their learning experience, they have to plan their modules so that they can fulfill the degree requirements without delaying their graduation.
Students may opt into or out of a Specialisation at the beginning of any Semester, including immediately after matriculation. There is no quota for the number of students who can specialise in each area, except for Accounting.
BBA students may freely opt at any time to complete a second Specialisation within their degree requirements; BBA(Honours) students may even freely opt at any time to complete a third Specialisation within their degree requirements. There is no obligation to complete a second or third Specialisation, and students may freely opt out of either at any time.
On average, only 1 student is asked to go each year.
More than half of our 3-year BBA students graduate with Merit, which corresponds to 3-year honours in other universities.
The streaming of students into the BBA Honours program is based on their academic performance in NUS. There is no quota. Given the performance of recent cohorts, about half of our students are eligible for admission into the BBA Honours program, and between a third and 40% of all recent BBA students eventually graduated with Honours.
After completing 56 MCs of business modules, students' academic performances will be reviewed every semester. If their results improve and meet prevailing criteria, they will then be offered places in the BBA Honours program.
We have much more than 300 exchange seats in over 120 select universities and business schools. Students go to universities in US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Oceania. Selection is competitive and based on how well a student can benefit and also be a good ambassador of NUS and our School, as well as on academic merit.
Students can gain valuable international exposure when studying and living in a foreign country. This adds another dimension to the BBA experience as it enriches their academic life and enhances their personal development.
Students who have gone on exchange are also highly sought after by prospective employers, especially multinational companies, as they prefer students who are geographically mobile and who have adapted successfully in a foreign environment.
Yes, we do. Throughout the academic year, the Business School also organizes overseas programs, sometimes in conjunction with other institutions. These include the annual case competitions held in established overseas universities. These initiatives enable Business School students to broaden their outlook and to develop an awareness of and appreciation for other cultures and their approaches to doing business.
The Business School's well-staffed Career Services Office provides assistance to students among us by creating internship and placement opportunities for them. Its activities also include conducting of career-development workshops and seminars, organising of recruitment talks, and distribution of resume books and job postings.
BBA Honours students can also opt for the Consulting Practicum that is worth 8 Modular Credits. The Practicum provides students an opportunity to be attached to a company to work on a real-life consulting project, while being supervised by a faculty member from the Business School.
In a survey by an independent NUS unit published in 2007, the top 20% of our 4-year graduates drew an average salary of $5046, with the top salary hitting $11,500, before bonuses.
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