ScholarShip

Floating campus offers 16-week study cruise

FIRST, it was distance learning, then online degrees. Now, there's a 'floating campus' on the high seas.

From next year, as many as 1,400 undergraduates and postgraduates will get to spend 16 weeks on a study cruise around the world. The cost is US$19,950 (S$31,920) per person, about $10,000 more than the average annual local university fees.

Undergraduates who complete the course will receive a Certificate in Intercultural Leadership and postgraduate students get the Certificate in Intercultural Knowledge Management. Students will also gain credits, which they may transfer to their universities. The ship, backed by Royal Caribbean Cruises, sets sail on its
maiden voyage in September next year to eight countries, including Singapore. Thereafter, there will two voyages a year - in January and September - for 600 to 700 students each.

This programme is a joint initiative of Macquarie University in Australia; the University of California, Berkeley in the US; Peking University in China; Al Akhawayn University in Morocco; Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico and University of Ghana in West Africa.

- Straits Times, 1 Jun 2006.