Details

• Singapore
• BaWiSo-23
• Undergraduate
• SoSe 2026
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

First off, Singapore is a very hot and humid country, so you definitely have to mentally prepare for that and also keep it in mind when packing. In my opinion it wasn't necessary to pack a lot of sweaters or a thick jacket. Sometimes you do need a sweater, because the lecture and study rooms tend to be pretty cold. I also went to the tropical institute in Vienna to get vaccinated against the most common diseases in SEA (dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, etc), which was very costly, but I did not want to take any risks. Getting a travel insurance is also very important, since the insurance offered by the university only includes doctor visits on campus and not while travelling to other countries. If you are flying out from Vienna the cheapest and fastest option is to fly with Scoot Airlines. However they only fly every 3 days, while other airlines fly daily, but you will have to transfer somewhere in the middle east. Once you arrive in Singapore, just get a Grab (SEA version of Uber) to the campus or take the MRT, which takes about 2 hours. If you are staying on campus, you will have to get bedding and everything else yourself, because they only provide you with a plastic mattress (get a mattress topper), desk, chair and wardrobe. I would recommend going to IKEA Jurong East, which is about 30 minutes away from campus. If you are looking for any other advice or tips, feel free to write me an Email.

2. Accommodation

I chose to stay in campus housing, because Singapore is a very expensive city and the campus housing was compared to other options very affordable. I paid around 400 euros per month for a single room without AC. This is another thing to keep in mind. If you 100% need to have AC, you'll probably be better off looking for private accomodation. The student dorms are randomly allocated, so there is a possibility to get a double or a single room with or without AC. I got kinda lucky and got a single room without AC. The ceiling fan does a pretty good job though, so don't worry if you are allocated a room without AC. All of the dorms have shared bathrooms and toilets with the entire floor, which at times can get nasty. Furthermore most halls do have their own canteen, where you can get cheap food, study rooms and some even have their own gym, which is free of charge. Most halls also have lounges, where you can meet up with your friends and enjoy the free AC :D Overall I would definitely recommend getting student housing, because first of all it is pretty affordable and it is the best opportunity to meet other exchange and local students.

3. Academic life at host university

NTU has a huge campus compared to WU, because most student live on campus and head home on weekends. Campus facilities include multiple libraries, that I personally didn't use that often, because my hall had their own study room with AC. There is a very competetive academic culture at NTU, because of the bell curve. This means that your grade depends on the performance of the other students in your class. The teaching style was pretty different, because all of the classes I took were very small and therefore felt more personal, which also lead to feeling more interesting. Personally I can recommend the following courses I took, where the workload is also not that high: Modern Technologies in Marketing, Organizational Behavior & Design, Negotiation: Strategy and Practice.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public transport is very convenient and compared to Austria pretty cheap in Singapore. I would recommend getting an EZ Link card, which you can get at any MRT station, so you don't have to pay the foreign card fee, everytime you tap your card at the MRT. There are multiple bus connections from the campus to MRT stations and currently there is a new MRT line being constructed, which directly connects the campus with the downtown area. However right now it does take some time to get to downton (about 1 hour). Singapore is also a very safe country, so I never needed to worry about safety. There's also a huge sports area on campus and even a swimming pool. Regarding events, there are sometimes hall activities, like a Recreation night, which is fun and others offered by the university itself, which I never attended.

6. Testimonial

I had the best time ever in Singapore. Not only did I make new friendships, that I know will last for a lifetime, but I also got to see so many places in South East Asia. If you have the possibility to go to Singapore, just do it!