Last month, Fulbright’s Residential Life team just paid a visit to Yale-NUS College (YNC), Singapore, for an engagement session to explore and delve deeper into Yale-NUS Student Affairs operation. The session included one-on-one meetings with several units under the Student Affairs Office, covering multiple aspects such as residential life programs and services, student well-being, athletic engagement, diversity, inclusion and equity, student conduct, and administrative philosophy.
Sharing similar liberal arts approach to education, the discussion helped generate the detailed plans for Fulbright Residential Life development for the future, especially the building of Fulbright Residences in our flagship campus to come. The discussion focused on residential programs for each cohort, derived from the existed residential curriculum to make it holistically.
Understanding that college transition may take a different toll on each student, Fulbright aims to make the residences inclusive for different groups of students, accessible for disabled students, and most importantly, home to all students, making them feel safe and belong. For instance, the LGBTQ+ community may find it hard to feel included as the traditional binary pronouns and some unconscious behaviors can be “othering”. Based on Fulbright’s statement on diversity, many measures to increase campus accessibility, diversity, and inclusion in student life have been discussed to prepare for the upcoming academic years.
The cross-border partnership marks a joint effort of both institutions to make their campuses more inclusive. “As Fulbright and YNC continues to foster our collaboration on the international student exchange program, this is a new step to tighten the relationship between the two institutions on operation and administrative philosophy by accumulated experience and insight.” – Mr. Nguyen Trong Hieu, Fulbright’s Residential Life Manager expounded.
