Community Engagement

About
Interdisciplinary learning remains an important educational objective since the formation of CDE and the regional communities around us presents relevant complex real-world problems for an enriching interdisciplinary learning for CDE students. The ICEP is an initiative by the CDE Office of Outreach & Special Projects (OSP) which serves to develop and coordinate college level programmes in overseas community engagements where the participation, learning and achievement of students are tracked and recognised either as credits or in NUS One. Through this initiative, we will focus on sending CDE students to ASEAN annually to participate in community-building projects that would tap on their professional skill sets in an interdisciplinary manner.

Objectives
• Provide interdisciplinary learning opportunities for architecture, design and engineering students to work in interdisciplinary teams to engage and address needs in the community with their disciplinary-specific knowledge and training.
• Develop humanistic empathy in students as they are exposed to needs in the Southeast Asia community.
• Co-ordinate and centrally manage existing and new community engagement projects in Southeast Asia to ensure synergy and diverse participation in students.
• Provide resources to encourage ground-up initiatives by CDE departments and student groups for community engagements to support regional developments across Southeast Asia using the discipline-specific knowledge and skillsets of CDE students.
• Centrally track participation and outcomes of these overseas community engagements.

CDE ICEP Award
Applicants may apply for the CDE ICEP Award to help defray their programme expenses.

The value of the CDE ICEP Award and minimum programme duration is as follows:
• Southeast Asia
o Value of the CDE ICEP Award S$500
o Minimum duration: 7 days 6 nights*
*The minimum duration is calculated from the first item of the programme to the final item of the programme, excluding the time spent travelling to/from the destination.

Application for the CDE ICEP Award is administered via EduRec:
• The student must apply to, receive an offer, and accept the offer for the ICEP Award on EduRec.

Application Criteria
• Full-time NUS CDE undergraduate students (Will it be applicable to ALL CDE undergraduate students regardless of citizenship?)
• The programme must include participation from CDE undergraduate students representing at least two different bachelor’s degree programmes (e.g., Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and/or Architecture).
• Students in the programme should aim to pursue their passion, apply their skills and knowledge in real-life community projects to bring positive and meaningful impact to the community.
• The programme should aim to promote the well-being of the community and/or environment.
• The programme needs to work with an external community partner overseas (e.g. NGO, University, organization etc.).
• Application for the funding must be submitted at least four months before the intended travel date and will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Post Programme Requirement
• Students are required to submit a 3–4 minute video reflection (vlog) within one week after the programme concludes.