Useful Policy Info

Senior Retention

Senior Retention Exercise (SRE)

University Town Residential Colleges offer 2 years guaranteed stay to students in the University Town College Program (UTCP). SRE is a process to retain senior students who are interested to engage themselves intellectually and to enhance the living experience in the College after their initial guaranteed stay period.

College expects SRE students to be role models in creating a positive culture as well as to fully utilize this opportunity to shape their personal and intellectual growth.

The college has a limited number of places for SRE students. The number of places left for SRE Students in Semester 1 AY2024/25 (as of 5 April 2024) is about 20, which is subject to changes. So, if you are looking for an accommodation within or nearby campus for next AY, you are strongly encouraged to explore alternate options as a back-up. If you have already accepted other accommodations in NUS and your senior retention application becomes successful later, you may be able to internally transfer the deposit to RC4 Office of Housing Services - please let Ms. Tan Si Min (rc4tsm@nus.edu.sg) know after the release of senior retention results.

Eligibility

Senior Retention Exercise (SRE) is only for RC4 Students and RC4 Alumni (who are currently in their year 2 or above).

Note: The SRE applicants can apply for Semester 1 and/or Semester 2 of AY2024/25 in this application window (5 April to 1 May 2024). We may not open another application window for semester 2 of AY2024/25 unless there is a real need. So, we strongly recommend applicants intending to stay for Semester 2 of AY2024/25 to apply in this window itself.

Terms and Conditions

The terms and conditions stated below are only applicable to senior retention students, in AY2024/25.

- Successful SRE students will commit to fulfil the "Minimum Commitment Requirements" upon acceptance of their SRE offer. Since there are only limited places available for senior retention students, those who are uncertain of fulfilling the "Minimum Commitment Requirements" levels are strongly encouraged not to apply for SRE. This will help other deserving candidates who are able to fulfil the minimum requirements to get a chance.

- As indicated in Section 1, students can apply for 1 year retention (both semesters of AY 2024/25) or 1 semester retention (Semester 1 OR Semester 2 of AY2024/25). There will be mid-semester/mid-year review exercises to ensure that the senior retention students are on track to fulfil the minimum commitment requirements.

- The decision to retain senior students will be based on the aspects mentioned in the "Evaluation Process and Evaluation Criteria" section. This decision will not be made based on the houses they were in during their initial guaranteed period of stay - there is no fixed quota for each house.

- Senior retention students may not be allocated to the same houses as they were in during their initial guaranteed stay period; so, they have to be open, matured and prepared for such a change. They are expected to be "peer mentors" and "role models" for the juniors staying in the respective levels.

- Senior RC4 students (who are currently in Year 2 and Year 3 of NUS study) applying for Resident Assistant (RA) position should apply for SRE as well, if they wish to stay under SRE despite the outcome of RA applications.

- If a current senior RC4 student (who will be in Year 3 or 4 of NUS study in AY2024/25) is elected [note: co-opted members are not included] into the new College Student Committee (CSC), he/she can continue to stay in the College until his/her service in the CSC ends. Should the student subsequently resign or quit from CSC, continued stay in the College will depend on whether the student has applied for SRE in AY2024/25 and student's SRE ranking. If the student has not applied for SRE and the ranking is far from the first person in the waitlist, the student has to move out of the College.

Minimum Commitment Requirements expected from retained students

We strongly encourage and expect successful SRE students to fulfil the following Minimum Commitment Requirements that they would agree upon acceptance of this offer:

1. Director of Student Life will work with successful senior retention students and partner them with fellows/staff/alumni to form senior retention groups after which each group will initiate a project or idea to create a positive impact/culture in the college;
2. Show active participation in the house/ college activities.

If successful SRE students are interested in taking RC4 UTCP course(s) to fulfil their University Level Requirements during the senior retention stay they may contact Ms. Tan Si Min (rc4box2@nus.edu.sg). Please note that residents who have not completed UTCP will be given priority and so the request may not be successful. In case if their request to read UTCP course gets successful then those SRE students will be exempted from minimum requirement A.

Evaluation Process and Evaluation Criteria

Each SRE applicant will be assessed based on two major categories:

Category 1: Applicant's Contributions made during the stay - including current semester (70% weightage of overall SRE evaluation)

Category 2: Mini Proposal of a new Project/Idea through which the applicant intends to give back to college during SRE stay (30% weightage of overall SRE evaluation)

Evaluation criteria for Category 1 - Contributions made during stay

This carries 70% weightage. Length of stay in RC4 will not be a criteria for selection; rather the overall contributions during the stay period will be given prime importance. Each SRE application is assessed based on the following aspects:

1. Leadership contributions: (few examples: main committees and/or Subcommittees of CSC, Houses, RC4 Flag, Interest Groups/Cognitio Pods, Freshmen Orientation Camp, Arts Night or any other special projects, Resident Assistant, etc)
2. RC4 Interest Groups and Student-Initiated Cognitio Pods membership contributions: Committee will look at the overall membership contributions in terms of consistency (through attendance) and/or diversity throughout the stay period
3. Involvement in House: based on inputs provided by respective House Heads, Resident Assistants
4. Significant new initiatives/projects launched by applicant in RC4, if any. For example: launching an Interest Group or a new initiative/project for RC4
5. Key achievements/contributions to external events/projects representing RC4 both within and outside NUS (few examples: representing RC4 in Inter-college games prizes/medals won for RC4, performing/organizing productions for public - RC4 arts night and dance productions, RC4 Student Ambassador contributions, representing RC4 in NUS Day of Service, representing RC4 in university/national/international level events, helping in organizing/contributing to RC4 OCIP, RC4 STEER, volunteer/roamer in Open Day, etc)
6. Key achievements/contributions to internal RC4 events (for example: player in inter-house games, performer for internal events)
7. Applicant's conduct throughout the period of stay

Note: The Committee will look at both the depth (quality) of each contribution and range of contributions made during the stay.

Evaluation criteria for Category 2 - Mini Proposal of a new Project/Idea through which applicant intends to give back to college during SRE stay

The mini-proposal carries 30% weightage. We expect Senior Retention students to give back to college in 'unique' ways in their Year 3 and Year 4 (unlike their usual participation in IGs, events, annual projects). So, the SR applicants will submit a mini proposal on how would they give back to the college in unique and impactful ways. The proposal should be prepared individually (not in groups).

The idea/project can be intellectual, or any ground-up initiative that would impact RC4 community and society in a positive way. We expect the project/idea to be something unique and different from existing IGs/pods/projects/annual projects.

The proposal is evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Uniqueness of proposed project/idea
2. Impact of proposed project/idea on RC4 community
3. Impact of proposed project/idea beyond RC4/NUS community
4. Feasibility of implementing proposed project/idea

Evaluation Process

There are FIVE senior retention committee members who will evaluate each SRE application:

1. Dr. Naviyn Prabhu Balakrishnan (Chair),
2. Dr. Lynette Tan Yuen Ling,
3. Dr. Bellam Sreenivasulu,
4. Ms. Elizabeth Ong Ling Lee,
5. Dr. Fu Jingcheng (Cindy)

Evaluation Process for Contributions (Category 1): All the contributions submitted by each applicant will be first verified by college office using the data provided by the student life participation record (mainly managed by the College Students' Committee under College Office supervision), and the respective House Heads, and Resident Assistants. Following the verification, each applicant's contributions are individually evaluated by THREE Senior Retention Committee members based on the criteria mentioned above. The committee will seek feedback from respective Resident Fellows on candidates' track record in creating a positive culture.

Evaluation Process for Mini Proposal (Category 2): Mini Proposal of each applicant is individually evaluated by TWO Senior Retention committee members based on the criteria mentioned above.

The ratings/recommendations given by the individual committee members will be consolidated, normalized and weighted by the committee chair to generate an overall ranking. Based on this overall ranking and the number of places available in the college, Senior Retention offers will be made upon approval from the College Master. Since there are only limited places available, there are chances for deserving candidates to be placed on a ranked waitlist, who will be offered as and when there are new vacancies throughout the academic year.

Important Notes

1. The SRE results are offered in multiple rounds during vacation (sometimes even during semester) as and when vacancy arises. So, if you did not get in round 1, you are placed in waitlist and you will hear from us when your turn comes.
2. SRE and Honour Roll are different: Please understand that there is NO connection between Honour Roll Award and Senior Retention Offer, as both are different in their own ways. Some of the important factors that make them different include:
  - There is no limit set on number of Honour Roll Awardees; as long as a nominee's consolidated peer review scores given by ALL peer reviewers recommend that he/she deserves the award, he/she is most likely to get the award (unless there is any other reason). This is mainly set as a way to recognize and celebrate all the contributions of the nominee to the community. On the other hand, there will be only limited number of places left for senior retention students every academic year after allocating to new Year 1/Year 2/Exchange/stop-the-clock return students.
  - The potential contenders for Senior Retention places include the current Year 2/Year 3 students/alumni of RC4 who would still be pursuing their undergraduate degree in the next Academic Year; while for Honour Roll Award the nominees will be predominantly from the current Year 2 (there may be a few from Year 3/Year 4, should they did not get the award in previous years). Since there is a limit on number of places available for Senior Retention candidates, and there could be more eligible candidates across Year 2/Year 3 applicants, the evaluation criteria for both these processes are different. The Honour Roll Awards are predominantly decided based on the nominations and peer evaluations from the student body; while for Senior Retention, multiple stakeholders (including Senior Retention Committee members, Resident Fellows, House Heads/Resident Assistants, College record on contributions/participation attendance in IGs/conduct) are involved due to the limit on number of places available.
  - A decision on Senior Retention is mainly based on "overall ranking" generated from the consolidated scores given by individual Senior Retention Committee members, and data provided by Resident Fellows, House Heads/Resident Assistants, College record on contributions/participation attendance in IGs/conduct. Based on the overall ranking generated and the number of places available for Senior Retention Applicants, the Senior Retention offers are made; further, the waitlist is moved based on this overall ranking as and when there is a vacancy

Link to Application Form

Application Deadline and Results Release Period

Stop the clock policy

"Stop the Clock" Policy at Residential College 4 (RC4)

Students admitted to RC4 as freshmen are normally given two years of residence with an expectation to fulfil the University Town College Program (UTCP) curriculum comprising of 4 + 1 courses. NUS students normally go overseas on Student Exchange Program (SEP) through Global Relations Office (GRO) or NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) from year 2 onwards. Hence, freshmen intake students who go overseas on the SEP/NOC during year 2 will not be able to complete their UTCP curriculum. We "stop the clock" for the freshmen intake students who go overseas on the SEP/NOC during their second year to help them complete the 4 + 1 courses in the UTCP curriculum while continuing their active participation in the college life. When a student comes back to college after SEP/NOC, we resume the clock again for a period equivalent to the student's involvement in the SEP/NOC (for example, if a student heads to SEP/NOC for 1 semester in year 2, the student will get a chance to stay for 1 semester in year 3). Thus, a student who leaves the college halfway due to SEP/NOC will resume his/her stay in the college through "stop the clock" policy to complete 4 + 1 courses in the UTCP curriculum, and participate actively in the college activities.

Eligibility check to "Stop the Clock":

College "Stops the Clock" only if the student meets/fulfils the following requirements:

1. must be admitted as a freshman who acquired two years residence;
2. must have stayed at least 1 year in the college (Sem 1 and Sem 2 during Y1);
3. must have completed at least two UTCP courses during his/her year 1 stay in the college (if the candidate is applying to "stop the clock" in the second semester of his/her academic year 2 stay, he/she must have completed at least three UTCP courses in the first 3 semesters);
4. must ensure that he/she will be able to complete all the pending courses* needed for completion of UTCP curriculum during his/her resumed stay period in the college;
5. must submit a completed application form to the college (along with relevant supporting documents from his/her home faculty/GRO as evidence of approval of SEP/NOC) as soon as the student gets confirmation on SEP/NOC.

Note: Submitting an application form does not mean that the clock is stopped; the decision is subject to approval by the College.
*Number of pending courses will be "number of courses required for completion of UTCP curriculum (which is 4+1)" minus "number of college courses completed before embarking the SEP/NOC". For example, if a student has completed 3 courses before his/her SEP/NOC, number of pending courses that he/she has to complete will be 4+1-3 = 2.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

FAQ 1: Does Stop the clock policy apply to RC4 students from non‐modular faculties (like Medicine/ Nursing/ Dentistry/ Law/ Pharmacy-AY23/24 Cohort onwards)?
Answer: This policy does not apply to students from non‐modular faculties and Pharmacy as they will not complete the UTCP curriculum.

FAQ 2: I am intending to do an SEP during my first year. Will stop the clock policy apply to me?
Answer: Students are expected to complete at least 2 semesters in NUS before they go for SEP/NOC. Hence, the college's stop the clock policy will apply to those who go on for SEP/NOC in year 2 only.

FAQ 3: If I go on for SEP/NOC and come back to college through stop the clock policy, can I still apply for senior retention exercise?
Answer: Students who come back to college through stop the clock policy are eligible to apply for senior retention exercise. Only thing they have to note (while applying for senior retention) is that they should have recently completed or should be at the verge of completing their 2 years of stay in the college.