Thursday, January 08, 2004

Other differences -

Fonty: all students live in different houses, usually reachable by car, through a picturesque ride through the forest. Most students will not have dinner together on a regular basis and lose sight of their classmates for the day, if nothing is planned for the evening.
Singy: 80% of the students live in two condominium complexes, right next to each other, with a pool (or pools) around which most students informally gather for talks. All students tend to shop at the same places, go to the same bars, eat out at the same restaurant or food courts.

Fonty: flying out anywhere is tricky as airport access it tricky. Driving anywhere is tricky as it takes a long time. Parking in Paris is a nightmare.
Singy: flying out from Singapore is trivial. Airport access is 10 euros away, that can be split between 4 students. There are cheap and regular shuttles to Kuala Lumpur, boats to Indonesia on a regular basis and cheap flights to more remote destinations. Local activities such as diving, sailing, farniente in the sun, tennis, jogging in the parks are very easy and at your doorsteps.

Fonty: very crowded
Singy: very informal, very flexible

Fonty: parties are organized at someone's place. DJ's are hired. A theme is proposed, most of them are costumed. They start around 10.30pm, finish in the early hour in the morning. National Weeks are big and varied.
Singy: informal parties are organized around the pool barbecue tables, then move into a bar or club downtown. It is not as intimate, have no theme, have no costume. We get to a club around 11.30pm and leave in the early hours of the morning.
Frequency of parties is similar. Attendance similar. And no, we do not party every day. And yes, there is a rotation in terms of attendance.

The library at Fontainebleau is large and offers a quiet working environment.
The library in Singapore is much smaller but there are many more closed and quiet working rooms.

Workload at Fonty and Singy is similar.
Based on my initial impressions of class interventions and private conversations, students here are just as bright, diverse and interesting.

Phone calls across campuses are considered internal calls and are free. There is a video link between the two campuses, which I have seen used - although at times switched on and sitting idle.

Still, the campus in Singapore is fairly new and some inconsistencies arise.

However, someone must explain to me how a school that is global, that has campuses across two continents completely integrated, that operates in the era of the Internet and seamless connections has to delete students' e-mailboxes on one campus in order to open an account on another campus. On top of that, WE are given a class on IT Management and how to align information technology with business strategy.

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