Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, however, applications must be submitted 6 (min.)-12 months (max.) prior to your proposed posting period.

No, the applicant must be a bona fide undergraduate medical school student and already in their clinical years. Unfortunately, we do not accept nursing, pharmacy or allied health faculty students.

The minimum posting period is 2 weeks and maximum total posting period is 12 weeks per application. (maximum).
Postings in Singapore are counted in weeks, commencing on a Monday and ending on a Friday. Each student (regardless of nationality) is only allowed to put up one (1) application at a time.

International Students intending to undertake a research project elective must first secure acceptance from a local Principal Investigator (PI) or hospital/department before contacting the NUS Medicine Electives Team at medelectives@nus.edu.sg.

The maximum duration for a research elective is 12 weeks. Students are required to submit the same documentation as when applying for a clinical placement application. The usual application process and fees will apply. Request for a research project is subject to the hospital/department’s approval. 

There are 2 parts to submit your documentation throughout the application process:

• During submission, the system will not allow you to select a posting until all required documents have been provided. Each new application has one month to complete the required documentation and pay the application fee. If your application lapses, please email the NUS Medicine Electives Team at medelectives@nus.edu.sg to reinstate your posting and continue your submission.
• After being awarded a placement, you will need to submit your  Professional Indemnity Insurance & Travel Insurance (for non Singaporean/SPR student)

• International Students who are nominated by their home universities that have a Bilateral Exchange Agreement (BEA) with NUS Medicine are eligible for a waiver of elective fees.
• International Students who are not nominated or whose universities do not have a BEA with NUS Medicine are still welcome to apply; however, they will not be eligible for the fee waiver.
• The elective fee for international students is S$625 per week (with effect from January 2026). This rate is calculated based on the fees applicable to local Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents, rather than the standard international student fee rate.

• Singapore Citizens/ Singapore Permanent Residents are not required to pay any elective fees.

• There will be no other tuition fees involved.

Yes, the application fee is the same for all students, S$152.80 per application.

No, the application fee is strictly non-refundable under any circumstances.

• NUS Medicine does not provide refunds for any payment incurred for medical checks, vaccinations, or blood tests if a placement is not secured. These medical examinations and tests are standard requirements for most overseas applications. All students are encouraged to thoroughly review and consider these requirements before submitting their applications

Payments can only be made using all major credit card, PayNow, Alipay. 

(Please note that there will be a Credit Card Processing (CCP) fee for payers who use international VISA, Mastercard, or Alipay to make payments to NUS.)

• Each student may submit up to 5 posting choices with no order of preference. If all 5 initial postings are rejected, you may submit 1 additional round of 5 choices to attempt placement again.

   

• Requests to change the discipline, department, or hospital will not be accepted after the placement is confirmed (Accepted by Applicant).
• For changes in posting date (for any confirmed posting), applicants will be charged a non-refundable administrative fee of S$54.24 for each change request, even if the department is unable to accommodate the change of dates. Please take note changes are subject to the availability of vacancies and supervision

• Please refer to the template under “Document Submission”

The letter should have the following statement (using school’s letter head):

The applicant is a registered undergraduate medical student of the applicant’s University and will still be a registered undergraduate medical student of the applicant’s University during the period of the elective attachment.

The applicant’s proposed elective attachments are considered suitable. By the time of the proposed elective, the student will be in his/her clinical years.

Signed off by the Dean, Vice Dean, Assistant Dean, Registrar Office with school stamp (if not digitally generated)

No, if you are unable to present documentary proof of 2 doses of immunisation, you will have to undergo a 2nd immunisation or screening. For students who are tested negative for immunity, you will have to take 2 doses of immunisation.

All students are required to submit their most recent (within the last 10 years) Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Pertussis) vaccination record as part of the medical documentation submission. If the Tdap booster is not available in your home country, you will need to receive the vaccination upon arrival in Singapore, before starting your clinical posting. The Tdap booster can be administered at any local general practitioner (GP), clinic, or hospital. Please ensure you bring your existing Tdap vaccination records before travelling to Singapore. Elective Team will require students to upload the Tdap booster document to the student’s application later. 

• Some home universities do provide medical students with Professional Indemnity Insurance coverage. Please check with your school’s elective team or registrar’s office for this document.
• International Students who can’t secure a Professional Indemnity Insurance in their home country can opt for travel insurance that includes third-party liability coverage. International students are to ensure sufficient coverage throughout their placement in Singapore. 
• [Only applicable for students from certain countries] If  international students are having difficulty getting the Professional Indemnity Insurance,  you may approach the Medical Protection Society, Singapore. to understand if you are eligible to apply for this scheme

A copy of the acceptance letter can be downloaded via your application after you have been awarded a confirmed placement. Please login with your application to download the document under ISCEP “Download Centre”. For CEPOVS application, there is a download button under the posting selection page. 

• Letter of Completion is not mandatory.

To obtain a letter of completion after your clinical placement, please submit the post-assessment form (1 form per posting). If you completed more than 1 posting, consolidate all forms into a single PDF and upload it to your application.

There is no specific deadline to upload the completed form, as the letter of completion is optional for international students. Once we receive your forms, we will review them, and the system will release the digital letter to your application. You can download it under ISCEP “Download Centre.”

Blank assessment forms are available for download within your application.

• Before submitting your application, please note that NUS Medicine will not endorse any documents from your university or any other special request forms containing statements such as “the student has had the same rights, duties, responsibilities like the regular medical students of the University…” or with similar meanings. The practice of acknowledging such forms has discontinued due to legal reasons.
• NUS Medicine also does not enter into one-off, single-student or one-time training agreements.
• It is the student’s responsibility to check with their home institution office if any of the above is required before you submit your application. NUS Medicine will discontinue all applications later, even if students have a confirmed placement

• The default mode for most clinical elective is hands-off observership in Singapore. International students will need to check the respective postings under “Posting Opportunity” for this information before applying for placement.
• Only a certain group of international students are eligible to apply for the Work Holiday Pass (WHP) that comes under Ministry of Manpower Singapore. Please check out the requirements and eligibility here >> https://www.mom.gov.sg/passes-and-permits/work-holiday-programme  . For WHP, internation students will need to have a confirm posting in Singapore before submitting a WHP request. For enquiries regarding Work Holiday Pass (WHP), please reached out to MOM directly for clarification.
• For hands-off observership, the short-term visit pass (STVP) will be sufficient (up to 30 days) and there will not be any cost incurred. Extension beyond 30 days, less than 90 days maybe possible but student will need to put up a request with ICA (Singapore Immigration) directly, having a valid return ticket and also accommodation in Singapore.  NUS Medicine do not process any NUS student pass for short-term clinical placement in Singapore for ICA SOLAR application. For immigration related matters, please leave your contact via ICA website >> https://www.ica.gov.sg/ for them to advice accordingly.