URECA programme is available only to undergraduates who satisfy the following criteria:

(i)      A full-time NTU undergraduate enrolment;

(ii)    Achieved excellent academic standing based on previous academic year GPA; e.g. 2nd Year (based on 1st year semester 1 and semester 2 results); (Distinction equivalent for LKCM students only);

(iii)  2nd Year (in a 3-year Bachelor's degree programme);

(iv)  2nd or 3rd Year (in a 4-year Bachelor's degree programme);

(v)    2nd, 3rd or 4th Year (in a 5-year Bachelor's degree programme);

(vi)  Require a minimum of 1 academic year remaining (semester 1 and semester 2) before graduating.

 Students who are eligible for URECA will receive their invitation in end of July. Students are allowed to take up the URECA programme more than once during their undergraduate degree studies as long as they satisfy the URECA eligibility criteria and conditions.

Student who met all the criteria except (ii) but is not eligible for URECA, may appeal only from 15 September to 29 September (1 day before end of URECA Add/Drop period) through a supervisor who is prepared to supervise his/her URECA research project. This appeal should be submitted via email to URECA office with supporting documents (e.g. official transcript, past research work if any) to be considered under the Discretionary Enrollment on case by case basis.

Conditions

Exchange and URECA*

If you are / will be on Exchange for 1 semester, your eligibility to take URECA is subject to your (i) school and (ii) URECA supervising professor are agreeable and support the continuation of your URECA project during the period of exchange.

Before enrolling in URECA Programme, you need to inform the supervising professor of your commitment and discuss detailed plan with him/her for mutual agreement to carry out the research work. As research projects have different requirements, it is important for supervising professor to consider each case prior to registering students.

You are required to obtain approval from your school to register for URECA before the supervising professor can register you to a URECA research project (email from your school required).

The assessment and approval for URECA eligible student to register for URECA while on 1 semester exchange will be at the discretion of student’s school.

Upon successful enrolment, you are expected to complete all URECA deliverables (poster, abstract of project, paper & reflection) by the stipulated deadline and submit through Student Intranet while on Exchange with no exception.

Internship and URECA*

If you are / will be on Internship for 1 semester, your eligibility to take URECA is subject to your (i) internship company, (ii) school and (iii) URECA supervising professor are agreeable and support the continuation of your URECA project outside Internship hours.

Before enrolling in URECA Programme, you need to inform the supervising professor of your commitment and discuss detailed plan with him/her for mutual agreement to carry out the research work. As research projects have different requirements, it is important for supervising professor to consider each case prior to registering students.

You are required to have the following before the supervising professor can register you to a URECA research project:

1. make known to your internship company the URECA Workload in semester 2 to be carryout after office hours during the period of internship;
2. obtain approval from your internship company (email from internship company required);
3. obtain approval from your school to register for URECA (email from your school required).

Upon successful enrolment, you must complete all URECA deliverables (poster, abstract of project, paper & reflection) by the stipulated deadline and submit through Student Intranet while on Internship with no exception.

FYP and URECA

If you have started / are starting / will be starting your FYP (Semester 1 or 2) in the same academic year as URECA, you are not eligible to take up URECA. A student cannot simultaneously be registered for URECA and FYP in the same academic year. No exceptions will be given. URECA and FYP are both intensive projects, hence cannot be completed in the same academic year. 

ABP and URECA

If you are an ABP (Accelerated Bachelor Programme) student who will be starting your FYP in Semester 1 or 2, you will have to DROP ABP in order to take up URECA. A student cannot simultaneously be registered for URECA and FYP in the same academic year. If you are currently under ABP, please make a choice between the two immediately. No exceptions will be given.

• If you decide to take up  URECA, please inform the NTU Office of Academic Services (OAS) to drop you from ABP.
• If you decide to continue with ABP and have registered for a URECA project, please inform your supervisor to deregister you from URECA as soon as possible.

Semester Leave of Absence and URECA

If you have applied/ are applying / will be applying for a semester Leave of Absence (Semester 1 or 2) in the same academic year as URECA, you are not eligible to take up URECA. No exception will be given. URECA is a two semesters programme, hence student who is on a semester Leave of Absence is not eligible to participate in URECA.

CN Yang Scholars and URECA

URECA is open to CN Yang Scholars who meet URECA eligibility criteria.

 *Students who are on overseas exchange or internship programme in semester 2 are ONLY allowed for course registration in OAS system, with written approval from their School.

*Students are STRICTLY NOT eligible for URECA if he/she is away on exchange/internship in both semesters within the same Academic Year.

URECA eligible student may

Choose available URECA projects proposed by faculty

Student may view the list of available URECA projects , arrange to meet the faculty who is offering the project to express interest to work on his/her project and to register for the project. When there is a mutual interest, supervisor will register the student to the project through URECA system.

Self-proposed URECA research project

Student may look for a faculty to supervise a particular research project of interest by completing the self-proposed URECA research project system, selects a faculty from any school/NIE and submits the project to the selected professor through the system. Selected faculty will be notified via auto notification email. Faculty may contact the student to arrange a meeting. When there is a mutual interest, supervisor will upload the URECA project proposal through URECA system and register the student to the project.

URECA eligible student is required to complete the student project proposal template through a self-proposed URECA research project system, select a supervisor from any school and submit the project to the selected professor.

Example of the Self-proposed URECA research project in the URECA Project Management System:

There is no limitation on the number of URECA project proposal a student can submit. Student may create URECA project proposal and save it as draft. However, the draft saved has to be submitted to the selected faculty before a new project proposal can be created.

Faculty will receive an auto email on the project proposal with the details submitted. Student will also receive an acknowledgement auto email that his/her project proposal has been sent to the selected faculty. Student may follow-up (e.g. email, call) directly with the faculty if he/she did not receive a reply to arrange a meeting for further discussion.

Contact faculty of choice to develop a URECA research project

FYP-URECA is a Final Year project (FYP) that is conducted as a continuation of an earlier URECA project carried out by a student during his/her 2nd and/or 3rd year of study. It aims to maintain the continuity of students' research experience as far as possible. Under this programme, students will continue with their URECA supervising professors as one of their FYP-URECA supervisors.

The objective of FYP-URECA is to encourage and nurture undergraduates to become researchers by equipping students with the essential research experience and skills. FYP-URECA serve as a foundation for their postgraduate studies.

FYP-URECA student will be eligible for the following:

• Claim up to $500 of project consumable with the same claim criteria as URECA in addition to the school FYP consumable fund given;
• Apply for URECA conference support fund up to $2,500 if his/her paper is accepted for presentation in a reputable conference;
• Apply for journal publication award when he/she is the first author of the published paper in a reputed journal;
• Participate in the URECA Poster Exhibition & Competition and win attractive awards;
• Participate in a prestigious global pan-discipline academic awards programme known as The Undergraduate Award (UA-URECA);
• Coordinate or participate in annual Global, Virtual, Live & Interactive Conference known as International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR-URECA);
• Upon successful completion of the FYP-URECA programme, student will receive a certificate.

FYP-URECA duration follows the individual school FYP duration; however FYP-URECA student is required to submit the FYP-URECA deliverables in addition to individual school's FYP requirements.

If your FYP-URECA is 1 semester only or 2 semesters that crosses 2 Academic Years (semester 2 follow by semester 1), please inform URECA programme office at [email protected]. 

The Academic Units (AUs) are awarded by individual students' schools. Hence, there is no additional AUs from URECA for FYP-URECA projects. 

​​FYP-URECA is open to all students who have successfully completed one academic year of URECA programme under their URECA supervising faculty as one of their FYP-URECA supervisors.

Eligible students will be invited to register their URECA projects for FYP-URECA between March and end of June, regardless if their school FYP starts in Semester 1 or 2 in the new academic year.

FYP-URECA is only applicable to URECA student whose school offers FYP.

FYP-URECA project must follow student’s school specification in its entirety. Student must meet his/her school FYP requirements to register for FYP-URECA.

Student is required to ensure his/her school FYP registration is still open before registering for FYP-URECA. 

FYP-URECA student is required to register his/her FYP-URECA project as FYP project with his/her school within the school FYP registration period as FYP-URECA registration system and school FYP registration system are not linked.

FYP-URECA eligible student may choose to do his/her FYP-URECA project in-group subjects to approval from his/her school.

The FYP-URECA project ownership is the FYP-URECA registered student if his/her FYP group mate(s) is not former URECA student(s). His/her group mate(s) will be listed as collaborator(s) in his/her FYP-URECA deliverables submission and will not be eligible for the following:

• Claim for FYP-URECA project consumables purchases;
• Participate in the annual URECA Poster Exhibition and Competition event;
• Participate in the International Conference of Undergraduate Research – URECA (ICUR-URECA);
• Apply for fund up to $2,500 if his/her paper is accepted for presentation in a reputable conference;
• Apply for URECA journal publication award when he/she is the first author of the published paper in a reputed journal;
• Receive FYP-URECA certificate upon successful completion of the FYP-URECA programme.