I was a part-time masters student at the Singapore University of Social Sciences and these are the 4 factors that helped me juggle work, studies and my personal life.
For context, the Master of Adult Learning I was in was coursework based with no exams and lessons were only on Saturdays, but it was 8 hours worth of lessons.
Interest in the course
First, I had an interest in the course. I’ve done badly in my studies my whole life. 196 points for PSLE, 31 points for O levels and a 1.8GPA for my undergrad degree.
But these experiences got me interested in adult learning and education which also led me to work in the education sector. It’s a lot easier to stay motivated when you have an interest in what you’re studying.
Settled into my job
Second, I only decided to enrol after being settled into my job. I had systems in place to streamline my work, so my attention could be on my studies.
A good support system
Third, I had a good support system which included classmates and colleagues. As the first batch of students in the programme, my group of classmates ended up being quite close. Due to the nature of my job, I sometimes had to run events and once when I missed a class, they helped out with notetaking and made sure I was up to speed.
At work, I had the good fortune to have colleagues and bosses who let me schedule work around my studies. For example, I’d cover events that happen after work hours on weekdays while colleagues covered events during weekends when I had lessons.
It kind of worked out for colleagues also because working on weekends allowed them to claim off-in-lieu but I wasn’t eligible to do so for working on weeknights.
SUSS caters to adult learners
Fourth, SUSS was set up with adult learners in mind. They had a system in the classroom which records what’s shown on the screen and the lecturer simultaneously. To ensure you can hear the lecturer, all lecturers actually wear a microphone during the lesson. These recordings were made available in the student portal for my review.
The course was also modular and stackable in the sense that you start off with a graduate certificate, then do a graduate diploma and finish additional modules for the masters.
The administration for the programme was also adult learner friendly with many self-service options. In fact, I never needed to physically find an administrative staff from the time I submitted my application till I graduated. Everything was done efficiently online.
For example, when I needed a transcript of the modules I had completed, I didn’t even need to email the university admins, there was a system within the student portal which allowed me to instantly generate a digital copy of the transcript.
