Eleanor attended the INCiTE summer school, and was encouraged to further pursue entrepreneurship in her science career

Business plans and bubble teas: the INCiTE Programme

When signing up for INCiTE, I hoped to gain entrepreneurial skills and was excited to work in a multicultural team of students from Sydney, Edinburgh, and Singapore.

By taking classes and working on our global challenge project with my team during the day and exploring the city by night, I learned about Singapore culture and the culture of my fellow students in an interactive, casual, as well as academic way. This experience is unique compared to regular exchange programs. Life in Singapore seems polished and highly regulated by government regulation. The media and public opinion seem to be heavily influenced by political powers as well – more so than I perceive this to be the case in my (European) home countries.

The experience made me more aware of the limited freedom in supposed democracies and sparked my interest in learning about multicultural nations.

In the classroom, we learned about developing a business plan, employing design and systems thinking strategies to learn about entrepreneurship. This encouraged me to further pursue entrepreneurship in my career in science.

The most impactful part of INCiTE was the every-day contact with fellow students from the four participating universities.

From the different versions of English that were being spoken, to the etiquette around coming on time, to cultural customs about food, my cultural horizons were broadened immensely! Finally, my favorite part, of course, was exploring all the amazing food in Singapore. I tried at least ten different bubble teas, discovered a new love for xiao long bao dumplings and let my eyes water over many bowls of spicy noodles. I highly recommend the summer school to any adventurous student!