A spokesman for NUS said the numbers are back to pre-pandemic levels after Covid-19 travel curbs were eased.SINGAPORE - Foreign students have returned in force for short stints at the National University of Singapore , but some have found themselves grappling with housing-related woes.
In response to queries, an NUS spokesman said: “While we have allocated a proportion of on-campus hostel rooms for inbound exchange students, hostel capacity on NUS campuses is limited.”NUS’ website states that its residences at UTown in Kent Ridge can house up to 1,700 students. Figures from other residences such as Prince George’s Park Residences are not published on the website.
Warwick University student Antonio Lobeck, 22, said NUS informed him that he was not allocated a hostel room on campus only a month before his course started. Accommodation at NUS costs between $480 and $850 a month, but private accommodation can go up to twice the amount. Ms Christine Sun, senior vice-president of research and analytics at real estate consultancy OrangeTee & Tie, said the strong rental market means most landlords prefer leases spanning at least one or two years. Most exchange students are on programmes lasting less than a year.She said: “For those who still want shorter leases under one year, some landlords may ask for very high prices.
Ms Orient is a master’s architecture student at UIC Barcelona who applied to NUS to do an exchange programme, expecting a vibrant campus experience at one of Asia’s top universities, she said.