NTU Welcomes Indonesian International Student Mobility Awardees

IISMA is a prestigious scholarship scheme that funds Indonesian students for mobility programmes at world-renowned universities worldwide. Awardees enter a rigorous selection process and are exceptional in the areas of academics and co-curricular involvements. Through cross-cultural immersion, the programme aims to equip students with essential competencies to be future-ready global citizens: cultural intelligence, leadership, collaboration, cognitive flexibility, and inter-disciplinary learning.

NTU welcomed 24 and 25 IISMA students in AY21/22 and AY22/23 respectively to her campus.  Each cohort of students spent one semester undertaking full-time NTU undergraduate courses in various disciplines, ranging from Sciences and Engineering, to Business, Humanities and more. During their time here, the NTU-IISMA students were each assigned to a mentor within their area of study. Through this, students were able to obtain both academic guidance and industry insight.

Aside from core classroom activities, students were encouraged to expand their learning by participating in co-curricular activities outside and within the campus community. Students got a glimpse into our uniquely Singaporean identity through educational tours organized by NTU's Office of Global Education and Mobility (OGEM) to the National Gallery (April 2022) and Singapore’s Cultural and Heritage Sites (August 2022). Another key feature of the NTU-IISMA collaboration is the industry tour where students visited the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and the NEWater (PUB) facilities and gained first-hand insights into the latest developments in sustainability research in Singapore.

On campus and through their own initiative, IISMA students organized the Modern Heroes event (October 2022), featuring interactive activities aimed at introducing NTU students to the Indonesian National Heroes Day and creating awareness of the importance of ‘modern heroes’ in their lives. This entirely student-led event provided a great opportunity for the students to put their cross-cultural, leadership, and organisational skills into practice.

The NTU-IISMA collaboration is a strategic initiative designed to enhance international cooperation efforts and strengthen links between NTU and Indonesia. In line with this, Ms Pauline Ho, the Deputy Director of OGEM, said, "IISMA is an inspiring programme by the Indonesian government as it sets to broaden the global perspective of Indonesian students, allow them to network and build lifelong regional friendships and opportunity to enhance their competence needed for Industrial 4.0. NTU students too, have benefited from the interaction within and outside of classrooms with IISMA students and learn much from working within a multi-cultural team to solve real world SDG issues. We hope to see more of such opportunities to be part of the journey to groom future talents to be Global Savvy and Future Ready.”". NTU remains committed to the continued partnership with the Government of Indonesia to provide opportunities to IISMA students for cross-cultural learning and opportunities