Student Profile

The characteristics highlighted below are not intended to suggest exclusiveness; the NUS student is probably not very different from his/her counterpart elsewhere as shown by studies, for instance, in the UK and Australia. But being aware of these tendencies might help in coping with such aspects of student behaviour and trying to find ways to improve the quality of the learning process.

Generally speaking, NUS undergraduates are:

• Competent

  NUS students come from the top 20% of their cohort and have been admitted on good to excellent ‘A-level’ results. Unfortunately, these results are not always reliable indicators of ability and predictors of performance at tertiary level. Also, increased access in the last decade may have negative implications for student quality, especially as this is exacerbated by the intensifying competition for the best students. However, NUS students are by and large able and hardworking, though they may not be working hard in the most productive way.

• Motivated to succeed

  Meritocracy and the high degree of competitiveness in the educational and social systems engender a strong desire to succeed. There are, of course, some who coast along and need to be convinced that effort is needed in obtaining a degree, but the majority are conscientious and mindful of what is at stake, so much so that kiasuism is allegedly part of the culture. Whether the allegation is entirely justified may be contested, but a study done at CDTL using the John Biggs’ Study Profile Questionnaire⁵ indicates that the achieving motive and strategy feature strongly in our student population.

• Pragmatic

  The generalisation that the NUS student is influenced more by extrinsic (grades and other tangible rewards) than intrinsic motivation (desire to learn) is true to some extent, but it should prompt earnest attempts at understanding and negotiating with this phenomenon rather than cynicism. NUS students represent the best of their cohort, and their actions are generally intelligent responses to cause factors (e.g. the way they are taught, how they are examined, what the reward system is).

• Respectful of authority

  It has been observed that the preferred style of many students is that of passively expecting the teacher to be dominant and authoritative. Many students tend to take verbatim notes and reproduce what they have heard and read. They are also inclined to hope for detailed and copious handouts which may be rote-learned and reproduced. Increasing efforts to make the learning process more stimulating and rewarding to those who respond to the challenges, and posing questions instead of providing all the answers, may be some ways of weaning students from such dependency.

• Security seeking

  Students tend to look for ‘endorsed’ material (e.g. verbatim lecture notes, handouts, recommended readings, ‘good’ essays) and generally have low tolerance for ambiguous material and deviation from familiar and structured learning situations.

• Examination driven

  Examination consciousness may be said to inform the educational system here and is firmly entrenched in students by the time they enter the University. With the predominance of certification by examination, it is not surprising that examinations are the single most important motivational force. Some consequences have to be addressed, such as:

  • an unwillingness to take risks and engage in discovery and independent learning;
  • narrowness of perspective, with interest largely limited to what is within the syllabus and examinable;
  • tendency to adopt learning strategies which will yield the best results, even if these militate against real mastery, such as surface-level processing and short-term learning intended for examination purposes.

Student Profile | How students Learn | Why Students Learn | Pedagogical Implications

5. John B. Biggs. (1987). Student Approaches to Learning and Studying. Hawthorn, Victoria: Australian Council for Educational Research.