NTU – North Spine

Had luck not sided with me, I probably would be studying Telecommunications Engineering at the National University of Science and Technology, Pakistan. However, thanks to good fortune, I am now at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. I am currently doing my Bachelors in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE).  My decision to join Nanyang Technological University was one which, in hindsight was made in the blink of an eye. It was on August 14, 2007 that I got an offer from NTU and I was in Singapore on September 1. The decision was, practically, made in one day. It is a decision which I am thankful I made, for studying here is an experience that I would not trade for anything.

Nanyang Technological University has twelve schools, covering Engineering, Sciences, Business, Arts, Communication Studies and International Studies. It is a research intensive university ranked among the top 25 in the World Engineering Rankings.

The university offers something which could not have been offered to me in any university back home; a cross-cultural society where I can compete with people from different origins. This fact alone was perhaps my largest motivation to attend NTU initially. Here I have the opportunity to represent Pakistan in a university which was until now devoid of Pakistanis. I joined five other Pakistanis to form the smallest undergraduate International group in NTU. This has also motivated me since to make the most of my experience. It remains my constant endeavour to be a true representative of my country and NTU provides me with an excellent platform to exhibit just who Pakistanis are.

With a strong presence of students from China, who are well-known for their hard work, NTU offers an academic environment which is highly competitive. The School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is one of the world’s largest Electrical Schools with a student population in excess of three-thousand. The Bachelor degree of Electrical and Electronic Engineering offers students an option of choosing a specialization in the third year with various choices; bioelectronics, digital signal processing, IC design, and clean energy to name a few. I intend to specialize in a field that is not too common in Pakistan- IC Design. By doing so, I intend to bring this industry to Pakistan. These choices of specialization are not available in most Undergraduate Electrical Engineering programmes, so this is one of the many factors which make NTU a very good choice for Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has a faculty of around two-hundred distinguished professors who have years of experience in teaching and research. Undergraduate students can work with professors on research which is counted towards academic units (credit hours). All students in NTU have to spend one semester in their third year on “industrial attachment,” which provides students with practical training opportunities. One also has a choice of overseas attachment under this programme.

NTU offers a very active extra-curricular environment with a number of societies and sports clubs. The NTU Cricket Team plays in the Singapore Cricket league, which offers cricket lovers a chance to play good, competitive cricket. Cricket in NTU has been my main extra-curricular activity.

Admissions are based on O and A Levels results. Applications are open until March each year. Admission into NTU is conditionally offered, and dependant upon a good A-Level result.

Source: Adnan Ahmad Khan