Buzz Off!
By Vanessa Choo
So, what exactly was all the buzz around the Republic Polytechnic campus about? Well, Republic Polytechnic recently launched its very own Buzzer Bazaar, the first cashless bazaar using EZ-link as the sole mode of payment, and it’s got everyone talking. Find out more, as Vanessa Choo reports. Contribution by: Christopher Cheah
So now that you have graduated, which route do you take? Some of you may have the luxury of serving our nation, but what about the rest of us? There were two recent events held in RP which may just spur your decision.
Education Fair 2007 @ RP The two-day long event, held on the 18th and 19th January 2007, was comfortably situated in the Agora where it caught the attention of large crowds consisting of both students and staff passing by. The Buzzer Bazaar was initiated by OSG and organised by a group of student representatives from different Clubs/Schools in RP. This was tied in together with our adopted charity, the Sunlove Project, where a portion of proceeds went to the Sunlove Marsiling home. Joining in the event were over 20 elderly guests who thoroughly enjoyed the various performances put up by our students. In fact, they partook in kampong games, organized by a game stall set up by our own graduates, and had a real ball of a time!
system was brought into the crowds for people to tap their card and donate to charity, while showing their support for a particular act.
Heading the impressive line-up of performers was the Percussion Ensemble, which kicked-off the event to a resounding start. They were among other Create IGs, such as Silat, Republic Rhapsody, EMP, Jammerz Arena, Yoyo performance, Modern Dance, Drama, and Magic IG, all of whom thoroughly entertained the crowds throughout the two-day event. Following the likes of basking, the EZ-link
The Buzzer Bazaar ended off on a high note with stall holders slashing their prices for the “Closing Sale” on the last day of the bazaar. This was very well received by their fellow peers, garnering much lively support as they closed their last sales for the event.
On the more business end of things, was the stalls set-up by entrepreneurial students from various clubs. They sold items from snack food, to IT products, to ladies’ clothing and accessories, and even services such as laptop cleaning! The response to all the stalls was very good, in particular, the food stalls, as everyone was delighted to snack on some chocolate fondue for a sweet treat or have some ice cream to cool off the hot weather.
On 17th Jan, education providers and agents visited Republic Polytechnic to promote higher education opportunities to our students. This included the local institutions such as National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore Management University (SMU), and UniSIM, as well as distance-learning providers such as James Cook University (JCU) and University of New South Wales (Asia) (UNSW Asia). Education referral agents like the British Council and IDP Australia were also present at the fair. There was a warm response to the event held in the library at Pharos Gallery. Countless enquiries were targeted at the local institutions as many of our graduates wanted to remain closer to home while pursuing higher education. One of RP’s graduates, Ms Ye Jia Ling, has recently joined SMU studying Information Systems. She’s enjoying herself so much in University, she’s even come back to promote SMU to her juniors and peers! Ms Ye revealed that she received 2 modules worth of advanced standing, and hopes to complete her four year degree in as short as three and a half years, by overloading her timetable!
On the other hand, there were still the adventurous few who enquired about studying in the UK and Australia. Mr Adrian Kong, Education Counsellor with IDP Australia, noted that with RP’s PBL education system, many of our graduates were able to successfully obtain half to one year’s advanced standing with most Australian universities based on academic merit. If fact, he noted an increased interest from RP graduates in institutions such as University of Queensland, Curtin University, University of Western Australia, Monash University, and so on. He noted that more popular areas of interest included the health sciences, engineering and business studies. For students who wanted to enjoy the best of both worlds, there was UNSW Asia! Imagine an Australian university education on our local shores. The local representative, Ms Sharon Tan, pointed out that UNSW Asia has started their undergraduate courses and will be moving to their modern, state-of-the-art campus at Changi in 2009! UNSW has always been strong in the area of Engineering, and it was no wonder that many of our SEG students approached them for more information on entry requirements. Foreign and local institutions together make tons of universities to choose from, and even more degree programs to sift through! So what are you waiting for? To make a more informed choice, just approach our friendly staff at Graduate Services, or the Student Career Center for help.
Fluid mnoves from Dance IG
Student organiser, James, releases his inner “child”
Fishing around @ Kampong games
Adding groove courtesy of EMP
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