Correction: November 6th, 2008
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
The article misstated that slightly more than half of the students polled felt that the union had not improved their lives in the university. It should have been slightly less than half of the students polled instead. We are sorry for the error.
If the name Ng Hwei Yun does not ring a bell, you are not alone.
According to a straw poll done by the Enquirer, 93% of respondents were unable to name the new Students’ Union president.
Some students, like Mr Yu Yong Thieng, even confused the new president with the previous one.
“I only know he’s an Indian guy,” said the 20-year-old Accountancy major, referring to the 17th Students’ Union president, Mr Choudhury Anshuman Das.
Of the 100 students polled at Canteen A, B, and the Quad, slightly less than half also felt that the union had not improved their lives in the university.
Mr Victor Tan, 25-year-old Electrical and Electronic Engineering student, said: “I don’t know anything about the Students’ Union.”
But others gave the union more credit, with 26 students citing the 179A bus service, which serves NTU bus stops exclusively, as something that had improved their tertiary life.
In addition, one student was happy that the operating hours of 179A were extended by one and a half hours for a month during the start of the semester.
Responding to the poll results, Students’ Union President Ng Hwei Yun felt that students not knowing her name did not reflect the unimportance of the union as a representative body.
“After all, it’s not so much about me, it’s more about the Students’ Union as a whole,” the third-year English Literature student said.
With regard to the sentiment that the union had no impact on campus life, Miss Ng said it could be simply a matter of perception.
“Students may know there’s change but not know who’s behind that change,” the president said.
But Miss Ng said that things were moving a bit slowly for the union now as the new executive committee was formed just before recess week.
Still, she added that the pace of events would pick up and pointed to U-Study Day on October 22, when donuts, coffee and other goodies would be distributed to students as exam welfare.
The 100 students in the poll were also queried about what changes they would like to see in the university. A wide range of answers arose, with the quality of canteen food and the need for more hall rooms standing out a little more than the rest.
Other concerns surfaced as well. Miss Khairunnisa, 21, wanted to see more study areas for students. She was among the 64% who expressed confidence in the union’s ability to bring about the change they wanted.
“I think the union is quite strong so yes they should be able to do so,” the English Literature student said.
Mr Hendra Wong, a second-year Chemical and Biological Chemistry student, wanted to see more water coolers in halls.
“I have to go to a different level to get water in my hall so it’s rather inconvenient,” the 19-year-old said.
Noting the 29% who did not believe in the Students’ Union ability to lobby for change, Miss Ng appealed to students to be understanding about the limits of what the union can do.
Matters like the Hall Allocation Scheme is decided upon by a group of people, including representatives from the Junior Common Room Committees and non-constituent clubs, the president said.
As for academic matters like the possibility of exercising the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory option after exams, it is simply harder for students to make a difference in such instances, she said.
Miss Ng has however requested that the Office of Academic Services explain the rationale of not allowing S/U after exams and was confident the office would do so.
In all, the president believed the effectiveness of the union was still high. She pointed out that the union lobbied for the deadline of declaring a subject under S/U to be pushed from the eighth to the 11th week.
And Miss Ng also assured that the channels for students who want to be heard regarding the S/U option remain open.
“If we receive strong feedback from students regarding this matter, we will definitely reflect this to the university administration,” the president said.
Additional reporting by Liew Shi Xiong, Lin Junjie and Zakaria Zainal
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Keith Ong
says:October 10th, 2008 at 7.38pm
I suppose the majority of us students do not see much results the SU have done for us. The only notable exception will be for the implementation of 179A. Maybe the SU can try being more visible and be more informing of their achievements. However, maybe they should consider tapping on the internet. Their website is still not updated, although that of school clubs that were appointed as the same time as theirs have already done so. The forum queries on the su website has also not been answered.
Zi Jie
says:October 11th, 2008 at 12.07pm
Excellent article :)
bizzkit0102
says:October 13th, 2008 at 10.06pm
If Ng Hwei Yun is some chio bu then maybe I will take interest in finding out more about the student union.
Mavis
says:October 14th, 2008 at 10.39pm
Dumb article. Dude, try asking people to name the Miniser for Transport. What you trying to prove? The union isn’t supposed to be personality driven anyway.
s
says:November 6th, 2008 at 12.13pm
“Of the 100 students polled at Canteen A, B, and the Quad, slightly more than half also felt that the union had not improved their lives in the university.”
shouldn’t it be slightly LESS than half since the numbers are 43%?
g
says:November 26th, 2008 at 12.39am
seriously u guys could spend more time trying to mug or even think of better survey questions than ‘what is the SU president’s name’. how about asking ‘how many people actually even come to this website’
Xiong
says:November 26th, 2008 at 3.38am
g:
If you even read the newspapers, you may be aware that polls on whether the people know their leaders are common place.
This article is obviously a platform that raise questions and issues like perhaps the degree of apathy amongst NTU students, or even whether the Student Union has been impactful. For goodness, the entire article wasn’t even wasted on harping about the NTU students stumped by the president’s name.
Don’t just look at things on the surface man.
Eng ah por
says:October 27th, 2009 at 2.12pm
I hope that this is not another group of attention seekers.On the other hand why not invite a new party like the one recently registered by JBJ’s son the REFORM PARTY to hear their views.SDP and the Chee siblings are has been and only has rubbish which thrills the young to offer.