6 Misconceptions About Being a SIM (SIM University / SUSS) Student

Last Updated on 2020-02-11 , 10:19 pm

Sometimes, whenever I speak to someone who is not familiar with SIM, he or she will think that SIM is a private university that gives out its own degrees. To some extent, that is correct, but it’s only for SIM University (now known as SUSS)—the rest of the degrees are conferred by overseas partner universities.

Wah, you’re also confused now? Okay, let’s take it slowly and focus on the top six misconceptions about SIM first!

“SIM University Gives Private Degrees to Graduates”

No! SIM is a campus with partner universities using its premises! Overseas universities like University of London (UOL) and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) use SIM campus to conduct lectures, tutorials and exams for students in Singapore. When these students get their degrees, their degrees are conferred by their respective universities—not SIM. You don’t get a degree from a building, do you?

“But I’ve seen friends with SIM University degrees!”

SIM University is different—it’s a local university that somehow has the name “SIM” there. Just like NTU or NUS, SIM University (different from SIM the campus) is a local university that is also using the SIM campus. It works just like any local universities with Government subsidies, different academic schools and conferring its own degree. In fact, even some of the lecturers are professors from NUS (many).

And if you can’t find anything pertaining to SIM University now, it’s because it’s being renamed to SUSS. Great, less confusion now, no?

“SIM Global Education is for foreigners, no?”

No! It’ for anyone who wants to study! SIM Global Education is a circle of all partner universities. Commonly known as the “green” SIM logo, SIM Global Education means you’re in one of the partner overseas universities, or you’re in a diploma programme that will eventually lead you to a degree. And to confuse you even further, there are not just UOL and RMIT—there are many more, just that UOL and RMIT are the most popular ones.

“SIM has no Campus Life!”

You’ve got to be kidding. SIM Global Education students have CCAs, organize bazaars and are always falling in love with each other in school. Just step into the school and you’ll see people rock-climbing or a group of people kicking air in their black belts.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to SIM University (SUSS) students, in which a majority are part-time students. We can’t even handle work commitments; you think we’ve got time for CCAs?

“SIM is Small! Like a Secondary School!”

…that’s because you’ve not been there for a long time. Think of SIM as Singapore and NTU as Malaysia—SIM has three large buildings housing many classrooms and lecture halls while NTU has many smaller buildings with plentiful of land and grass. Granted that in comparison, SIM is still much smaller but it sure is very dense and definitely not small.

SIM Students are Good-looking

Okay, this is NOT a misconception. It’s the truth. Hello, pretty 😉