Academic Requirements by Cohorts

For students admitted from AY2021-2022

Graduation Requirement

A student in the Scholars Programme must read and pass:

  • 3 compulsory foundation-tier courses worth 12 UTs
  • 8 Inquiry-tier courses worth 32 UTs
  • 1 reflection-tier course worth 4 UTs

Of the twelve USP courses, USP students must read a minimum of eight USP courses (the 8 USP courses exclude substituted courses and directly recognised non-USP courses). They must also ensure that they have at least six USP courses which are letter-graded, and obtained at least an Honours (Merit) degree.

Foundation Tier (Level 2000)

Foundation Tier (Level 2000) contains three modules. The first of these, Writing and Critical Thinking, has long been a mainstay of the USP curriculum, encouraging students to engage in a complex and sophisticated way with the texts that they read, and to produce complex and inflected texts of their own. While the module has relevance to all students, its focus on the academic essay means that it develops verbal reasoning skills most often associated with the humanities and social sciences but nonetheless of broad relevance and importance. The second foundation module, Quantitative Reasoning Foundation (QRF), introduces students to the basics of quantitative reasoning, defined broadly as "the way in which we can use numbers to provide evidence for our arguments." It does so by examining a specific substantive topic whose claims can be assessed quantitatively. The third foundation module is the University Scholars Seminar -- USS2105. A year-long module spanning two semesters, the aim of this module is to introduce students to a four-fold stroll through big ideas on human inquiry and the nature of the world. Four different professors will introduce you to, and help you reflect upon the different modes of inquiry that constitute the modern knowledge enterprise.

Inquiry Tier (Level 2000 & 3000)

Inquiry Tier (Level 2000 & 3000) consists of eight modules. Students take interdisciplinary modules, with a small class size, in two domains, Humanities & Social Sciences (H&SS), and Sciences & Technologies (S&T). The overall goal of the second tier, as its name suggests, is to promote interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary inquiry, so that students can make intellectual connections outside of their majors. The curriculum is thus designed to encourage students in broad intellectual inquiry beyond their chosen majors, and incorporates the requirement to take at least one (and maximum of three) independent study modules on topics of their choice. This part of the curriculum comprises most of our existing modules, and preserves something of the progressive movement towards the Major which has always characterised our structure. While modules are categorised into domains, and indeed into sub-categories within the domains, they differ from the kinds of module that students might take in their major by being based around a concept or an issue, rather than aiming to cover content. Each module will be taken by students from a variety of faculties, and thus will inevitably acquire an interdisciplinary perspective through interactive pedagogy.

All USP students will take a total of 8 Inquiry modules including one ISM but no more than three.  USP students have to ensure that they have at least three H&SS modules and at least three S&T modules.

We encourage students to have international experience, and indeed we aim to have all of our students undergo some form of study, whether formal or informal, outside Singapore. We thus allow the substitution of modules in a number of cases. Students going on USP and their faculties’ Student Exchange Programmes, subject to approval, can substitute two modules per semester. Those on a Double Degree Programme, our own Cultural Immersion Programmes in Japan and India, and on NOC (one-year) or NOCSG, can gain exemptions up to four modules in total. In each case, we consider that the intellectual experiences the students undergo, whether broadening across disciplines, cultural facility in a new academic environment entrepreneurship, partially fulfil the goals of the second tier of modules in stimulating broad-based inquiry. In order to preserve the sense of the Scholars Programme as a learning community, however, we impose an overall requirement of eight USP modules across the three tiers.

Reflection Tier (Level 4000)

Reflection Tier (Level 4000) consists of one module, the senior seminar.It is designed to bring students together towards the end of their degree to reflect on the conditions of their own disciplinary knowledge and the assumptions developed in disciplinary framework to approach discourse and ideas with. This module creates guided opportunities for the students to critically reflect, in rigorous, evidence-based ways, on their experiences in USP and NUS.

NUS General Education Requirement

Students in the Scholars Programme are required to fulfill the NUS General Education pillars.

For the GE pillar(s) not satisfied within the programme, students are required to read one GE course from the outstanding GE Pillar(s). You may refer to the details HERE.

The following are the possible mapping of USP courses (by domain area) to the GE pillars.

Mapping of USP Courses to the NUS General Education Pillars

Mapping of USP courses (by domain area)
 GE Pillar Before AY2022-23 (by domain area) WEF AY2022-23 (by coursecode)
Cultures and Connections UHB, USE, UCV

 

 

 

 

 

Please refer to HERE for the list of designated courses.
Singapore Studies Singapore Studies. You may refer here for this list of designated courses.
Critique and Expression

UWC, UAR, ULT, UPI
Data Literacy Not mappable
Digital Literacy

Not mappable
Communities & Engagement UHB2213/CLC1101
UCV2209

Please note the following:
   No double-counting is allowed.
   Please refer to the respective faculties mappings for specific mapping too.

 

For students who have a writing requirement, the USP Writing and Critical Thinking (WCT) course may be mapped onto similar writing at the home faculty, if applicable. For example, CHS students will read USP WCT to fulfill the CHS Common writing pillar.  They will read USP HSS (UAR, ULT, UPI and UHB) to fulfill CHS Humanities Common (which also fulfil NUS GE Critique and Expression requirement). 

The USP Writing and Critical Thinking coursemay be mapped onto similar writing at the home faculty, if applicable. For example,

Faculty Course Code Course Title
BIZ ES2002
MNO2706		 Business Communication
Communication for Business Leaders
SOC CS2101 
IS2101		 Effective Communication for Computing Professionals
Business and Technical Communication

Please note that double-counting is not allowed. 

 

USP Requirements: College of Humanities and Sciences

USP students from the College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS) will read USP courses to fulfil CHS Common curriculum.  Table 1 shows the mapping breakdown:

Mapping of USP courses to CHS

   Table 1: Mapping of CHS and USP Curricula
  CHS Common USP domain USP Course codes
1 Writing

Writing and Critical Thinking

UWC2101%
NTW%
2 Data Literacy   Not mappable
3 Communities and Engagement   UHB2213/NHS2027/CLC1101
UCV2209/NHS2053
4 Digital Literacy   Not mappable
5 Artificial Intelligence   NST2046
6 Design Thinking   Not mappable
7 Asian Studies Humanities and Social Sciences

UHB (Human behaviour)/NHS2019-NHS2028
USE (Society, economy, polity)/NHS2029-2051
UCV (civilizational studies)/NHS2052-2053
8 Humanities Humanities and Social Sciences

ULT (Literary studies)/NHS2001-2007
UAR (Visual & performing arts)/NHS2008-2010
UPI (Philosophical inquiries)/NHS2011-2018
UHB (Human behaviour)/NHS2019-2028
NGN%
9 Social Sciences Singapore Studies requirement Approved USP-Singapore Studies courses. You may refer here for list of designated courses.
NSW%

10

 Scientific Inquiry 1 Sciences and Technologies

ULS (Life Science)
UNL (Nature's Law)
UQR Quantitative Reasoning)
UPC (Physical & Chemical Tech)
UBM (Bio and medical tech)
UIT (IT)
NST%
11 Scientific Inquiry 2
12 Course Choice 1 USS2105 and USR4002A, upon completion of USR
 USS2105 University Scholars Seminar
USR4002A Critical Reflection
13 Course Choice 2

Notes:

  1. Of the 8 Inquiry courses, students must have
    • at least 3 from Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) domain,
    • at least 3 from Sciences and Technologies (ST) domain
  2. Students are allowed to map up to two Inquiry courses (towards unrestricted electives space) per semester away from their exchange programme (mapping towards CHS common curriculum is not allowed).
  3. Students are allowed to double count their ISCs towards their major (please refer to ISC guidelines).
  4. Students are allowed to double count CLC1101 towards USP Inquiry (HSS).
  5. Faculty-coded courses (e.g CLC1101 and %3288) are not considered as fulfilling the 8 USP-coded courses requirement.   
  6. One Science UROP course coded (%3288) to be directly recognised as USP ISCs.
    • Double-counting of %3288 is allowed. The student can use this UROP to double count towards his major and specialisation/minor requirements, or his major and USP requirements, or his specialisation/minor and USP requirements.  Student should inform the relevant office accordingly to avoid triple counting.

 

For the students from the Special Programme in Science (SPS), three SPS courses will be directly recognised towards USP Sciences & Technologies requirements.  The three courses are:

  • SP2274 Engineering a Life-Like Cell
  • SP3275 Science for a Sustainable Earth and
  • SP3172 Integrated Science Project. SP3172 will also be deemed as fulfilling USP ISC requirement.

Table 2 show the summary of USP requirements for USP students from CHS.

Table 2: USP Requirements for Cohorts from AY2021-22 and onwards
Faculty/Major Foundation
(3 Courses)		 Inquiry (8 Courses) Reflection
(1 Course)		 Remarks
HSS ST Any Domain
CHS 3 3  3 2* 1

* allow double counting of USP ISC towards major (please refer to ISC guideline); able to map up to 2 courses from SEP (towards UE only) & direct recognition of one Science UROP (%3288). Mapped courses are not allowed to fulfill CHS commons.

*CHS students on the CHS-DDP pathways are waived 2 INQ in this "Any Domain". Students will need to fulfill 3 HSS + 3 ST, with no ISC requirement.

 

The USP requirement for students in Cross-disciplinary Programmes (XDP in PPE, BES, DSE) would be:

  • 3 USP Foundations courses (UWCT, UQF, USS)
  • 4 Inquiries (2 HSS + 2 ST)
  • 1 Reflection course (USR)

The USP requirements of XDP-USP students are shown in Table 3 (please refer to the last column).

    Table 3: XDP-USP Requirements (wef AY2021/22), UTs
Requirements PPE BES DSE USP Requirement
(3 + 4 + 1)
Major requirement 100 92 96  
CHS Common 36 44 44 24*
Unrestricted Electives 24 24 20 8**
Total 160 160 160 32

*24UTs may be used to fulfil any of the following CHS pillars.
**8UTs (comprising USS + USR) will occupy UE space as XDP students are exempted from the CHS Common Curriculum Interdisciplinary courses.

USP Requirements: Business, Computing, Engineering, Design & Environment, Law

USP students from Business, Computing, Engineering, Design & Environment, Law, Pharmacy and those on Special Programmes (e.g. double degree programme, year-long NOC or NOCSG), please refer to the table below for the revised USP requirement.

Table 4: USP Requirements for Cohort AY2021-22 and onwards 

Faculty

Foundation
(3 courses)

Inquiry

(8 courses)

Reflection
(1 course)

Remarks

HSS

ST

Any domain

1

Business

3

3

3

2*

1

*Recognise FSP4003 (8UTs) towards USP Inquiry requirement

2

SoC

3

3

3

2*

1

*Recognise 8MCs of computing courses towards USP Inquiry requirement

3

FoE

3

3

3

2*

1

*Recognise 8UTs of courses from Sustainable Futures+ Creating Narratives pillars or 8UTs from Integrated Project towards USP Inquiry requirement.

4

SDE (PFM)/

SDE (IPM)

3

3

3

2*

1

5

SDE (Ark)

3

2

2

1

No change

6

SDE (ID)

3

2

2

1

No change

7

SDE (RE)

3

4

4

1

No change for now. Double counting of 12UTs remain.

8

Law

3

2

2

1

No change

9

Pharmacy

3

2

2

1

No change

10

E-Scholars

3

2

2

1

No change

11

DDP/NOC

3

2

2

1

No change

Notes:

  1. USP students have to ensure that of the 8 Inquiry courses, students have
    • To read at least 3 courses from each domain, and
    • the remaining 2 Inquiry courses can be from any domain, hence “Any 2 domain”
  2. If there are recognised faculty courses towards the Inquiry requirement (e.g. from School of Computing), then these courses will fulfil the “any 2 domain” requirement category. This will ensure that all USP students will consistently read at least 3 courses from each respective domain.
  3. USP students from Business School who read FSP4003 will be deemed as having fulfilled 2 USP Inquiry including ISC requirements in the “Any 2 domain” category. Students can only double-count FSP4003, ie USP and Business requirement.  If FSP4003 is used to fulfill another requirement, eg NOC and Business requirement, then FSP4003 cannot be used to fulfill USP requirement.
  4. For USP students from Engineering, SDE (PFM) and thereafter SDE (IPM), USP will grant course waiver for 8UTs of Sustainable Futures and Creating Narrative pillars or 8UTs of Integrated Project towards USP Inquiry requirement, fulfilling ST and HSS domain respectively. These 2 course waivers will also sit in the “Any 2 domain” category.  This course waiver does not include ISC
  5. Those already on the waiver of 4 Inquiries will remain unchanged, e.g. DDP, Law, Pharmacy and E- Scholars, one year NOC programme and NOC SG. CHS students whose second degree is outside of CHS will also be eligible for the waiver

Continuation Requirements

All USP students (except Law students) are required to complete at least 6 USP courses by the end of Year 2. Those who have not will be asked to produce justification, and a study plan on how they aim to complete the programme.

Law students are required to complete 5 USP courses (including 3 Foundation courses) by the end of Year 3.

USP Dismissal Policy

To graduate with a USP certificate, an undergraduate student must achieve at least an Honours (Merit) degree, i.e. have a minimum GPA of 3.5. USP students should note the following:

  • should a student’s GPA fall below 3.0 (but ≥ 2.5) for three consecutive semesters, the student will be dismissed from USP in the next semester of study; and
  • should a student’s GPA fall below 2.5 for two consecutive semesters, the student will be dismissed from USP in the next semester of study.

S/U Options

Students may exercise the S/U option for up to 32UTs towards their degree requirements.The S/U option will apply to Level 1000 courses and Level 2000 courses offered without other NUS courses as pre-requisites, unless otherwise stipulated by the Faculties/Departments.

USP courses (Level 2000, with the exception of WCT and QRF courses) will be eligible for S/U for USP students matriculated in AY2014/15 and onwards. USP students enrolled in either the writing and critical thinking (WCT) or the quantitative reasoning foundation (QRF) course will not be allowed to exercise their S/U options.

The University Scholars Seminar (USS) is read on a Completed Satisfactory/Completed Unsatisfactory (CS/CU) basis, and does not count towards the UTs limit of S/U options.

Wef AY2017/18, USS2105 University Scholars Seminar will be read on a graded basis, and will be eligible for S/U option.

For more details, please visit the S/U option home page in the Student Portal by clicking here.

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