BCA Overseas Scholarship holder Yeo Kirk Siang says self-motivation was key to his success while studying on a scholarship.
By Narendra Aggarwal
WHEN the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy was in danger of toppling over, Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Overseas Scholarship holder Yeo Kirk Siang had the privilege of visiting it even though the world-famous monument was closed to the public.
"One of our professors at Imperial College in London was involved in a project to help save the tower, and he took some of his students on a field trip to Italy," recalls Mr Yeo, who graduated with a Master of Engineering in civil engineering in 2004.
Back in 2000, he was offered the BCA Overseas Scholarship as well as one by the Housing & Development Board.
"The BCA was new as it had just been formed in 1999. What attracted me to take up the BCA scholarship was that I would be in its pioneer batch of scholars and the fact that the BCA, being a new body, would offer me lots of opportunities to grow with it when I joined it after completing my studies," says Mr Yeo, 28.
The BCA Overseas Scholarship is quite generous, he says. It covered his full tuition fees, which came to about $36,000 annually for four years. Then, there was the monthly allowance to cover stay, food and general expenses. This was supplemented by an annual book allowance.
On top of this, there was a return air ticket to London and a one-time clothing allowance.
He enjoyed his time in London though he had a bit of a culture shock. "People there are very vocal and challenge ideas, which is quite different from Singapore." So it took some time getting used to it, he says.
Another thing he found different from his time as a junior college student in Singapore was that studying at Imperial College required a lot of self-study, self-motivation and research.
What helped was that he made a lot of friends---fellow Asian students from Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia, and European friends from Britain, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Mr Yeo says the courses he took at Imperial College included structural engineering, concrete studies, coastal engineering, traffic engineering, water resources management and geo-technical studies. The classroom study was supplemented with project work and field trips.
After completing his studies, he was bonded to the BCA for six years, the usual period for overseas scholarships. He was placed in the manpower planning department, which looks into the construction industry workforce needs.
His current job as an engineer in the Institutional and Commercial Project Department involves checking structural plans to ensure compliance of rules and codes set out by the BCA, before it gives approval for the projects to proceed to the construction stage.
One of the exciting new projects he is working on involves improving barrier-free accessibility in new buildings.