Community projects a key part of student life at medical school

It is a purely voluntary exercise, with no marks given for participation, but almost all medical students have helped in one or more community projects during their time at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

- Salma Khalik

There is a long history of voluntary work among the school's students, with some projects running continuously for more than 20 years, said Associate Professor Marion Aw, vice-dean of the Office of Students.

"All student projects are self-initiated, empowering students to take ownership and leadership of their initiatives. NUS Medicine provides guidance through faculty advisers for each project and training from the Office for Students," she said.

Each year, the school provides financial and administrative support for some 20 to 30 student-led projects. Those that run for years are passed on to younger students.

Associate Professor Chen Zhi Xiong from the department of physiology, who is a faculty adviser for several student projects, said: "We strongly encourage all our students to be involved in some kind of volunteering.

"We take it very seriously, and we actually have, over the past four or five years, strengthened the framework of equipping, evaluating and also advising how some of these projects should move in terms of sustainability, in terms of creating real impact."