Research finds that about less than six percent of American students go to Singapore to study abroad. There are a lot of factors that students take into consideration when choosing a country to study abroad in, but I would say there are several key pointers that students should pay more attention to when thinking about possible options. For students who are undecided about location but want to prioritize cost-efficiency, safety and the quality of education programs, I strongly urge you to consider Singapore. Singapore is listed as one of the safest and cleanest countries in the world and the universities in Singapore are some of the best in Asia and in the world. Also important to a college student is affordability, which won’t be a problem living in Singapore given the overall low cost of items.
Singapore is known to be environmentally friendly and a safe destination for people to live in and travel to, given the strict laws that help maintain low crime rates and the wellness of the environment. Singapore is ranked as the sixth safest country worldwide, with the top crimes being forms of nonviolent theft. A very impressive feat is how Singapore has kept this extremely low crime rate for 30 years. This level of crime is nothing compared to what we have here in the U.S. Compared to 2014, in 2016 the crime rates in U.S. increased by 6.8 percent and murder rate increased by 20.4 percent. In addition to this comparison, there was an experiment done in Singapore to test its levels of security. An individual who conducted the experiment set down his valuable belongings, such as a laptop, cell phone and wallet, at a table and left the area. When the individual finally returned after two minutes, his belongings were still there. This experiment serves as a strong example into how secure Singapore really is. Despite the fact that Singapore still has bouts of petty crime, store owners in Singapore typically don’t implement forms of security around their store because they are confident that nothing will be stolen. Achieving something like this would be impossible in U.S. because if store owners don’t lock up their store properly, they probably face a higher chance of being robbed.
The universities in Singapore are recognized globally by various institutions and are known to provide students with high quality education. Some of the universities in Singapore are listed in the top five best universities in Asia for their high quality of education. Singapore has two of the top most qualified and recognized universities: the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. The National University of Singapore is placed among the world’s 10 best universities for 11 different subjects. The Nanyang Technological University is ranked one of the top universities in the world for having the greatest citations in artificial intelligence, and they have connections with a lot of prominent companies such as Rolls-Royce and BMW. Therefore, students interested in subjects ranging from humanities to the sciences will definitely find their niche in the educational programs Singapore has to offer.
The quality and cost of living in Singapore is also worth taking note of. Singapore is known to be one of the most expensive cities to live in in the world, but if you look closely at individual prices of goods, this is not always the case. Although rent prices are high, nearly everything else is fairly well priced. Most college students studying abroad in Singapore will probably live in on-campus housing, but there still may be a limited amount of spaces. In such a case, many students opt to stay at an apartment. In addition to the cost of everyday items, such as food and hygienic products, being fairly cheap compared to the U.S., the transportation system built in Singapore is much more efficient and less costly compared to the U.S. Therefore, although, there are some costs of living in Singapore, such as a high rent cost, they don’t outweigh the benefits. It also really all comes down to how one budgets.
Overall, students should give Singapore a chance for a thriving travel experience. Although Singapore is not a popular option to study abroad in, traveling there would check off many of the main criteria students are looking for when thinking about prospective destinations to study in. Going to Singapore will allow students to live in a secure atmosphere, experience a different, yet still strong, quality of education and the cost of living isn’t as scary as a lot of people think. Living in such a vibrant community with other foreign students would be something to look forward to.
