Good news for students and alumni out there. The National University of Singapore garnered number 1 during the recent rankings conducted by a London based consultancy. The list of rankings was released last September 10. All non-NUS students rejoiced because for the first time, the university advanced the University of Hong Kong.

The rankings was released by the World University Rankings by Quacruarelli Symonds. In the worldwide rankings, the university is in the 24^th spot. The ranking simply reflects the government’s support of higher education. You should know that seven out of the ten spots on the global lists are US universities. The top spot goes to The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The number two spot goes to Harvard University followed by University of Cambridge then the University College London and the Imperial College London.

The rankings are based on six indicators to include student mix, international faculty, academic reputation, employer reputation, student-faculty ratio and citations of faculty. The NUS fulfilled all the indicators which made them the number 1. The Singapore government promotes and encourages schools to be on their best. As a result, many students from outside of Singapore considered it. The success of NUS is also the success of the government and all its citizens.

NUS offers undergraduate and graduate studies. The school is also proud of its research (with three Research Centres of Excellence and twenty three university level institutes and centres) with intensive focus on Asian expertise and outlook. There are three campuses (Kent Ridge, Bukit Timah and Outram) and 16 faculties’ offers broad curriculum. To date, NUS has a total student population of 37,426. 27,216 of which are Undergraduate students and the remaining 10,210 are Graduate students.

What is happening in the credit industry? Well, here is an idea. The MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) or Singapore’s Central Bank, announced tightening of rules for credit cards as well as unsecured credit. MAS claims that this action is a measure to improve:

Lending Practices of Financial Institutions

MAS now requires financial institution to re-examine the borrowers debt or credit limit before actually releasing or granting them. It would be practical and realistic if financial institutions asses the borrower’s capacity. The problem in the past was whenever borrowers ask for an increase in credit limit, financial institutions will give in without investigating.

Encouraging Individuals to Create Better Borrowing Decisions

Everything will begin in the individual. Individuals should be well informed when it comes to their credit decisions. Borrowing money or using credits is very serious. If individuals think about increasing their credit limit or amount of debt, individuals should think a thousand times before actually doing it.

Avoiding Further Debt Problems

The lending practices of financial institutions and the encouraging of individuals to create a better decision will surely spare the borrowers from getting more debt problems. At some point in time, you will surely borrow money but you can avoid further debt problems by learning how to manage it.

The MAS mean well. This new changes will help individuals who have mounted debt through credit cards as well as unsecured credits. Borrowing is common but if you manage your resources well, you will not experience shortage. So, every time you think about borrowing, increasing your credit limit or exhausting your credit limit, you should be aware of the repercussions. Actually, the solution is simple: do not buy something out of impulse and as much as possible, avoid using your credit cards. But if it is for the better, you should pursue it and try hard not to accumulate all your debts.

Singapore is doing its best to keep the people healthy and fit by banning cigarettes. Smoking was first banned (in selected areas) last 1970. As time goes by, the coverage of the “non-smoking area” is broadened to include shelters, bus terminals, public toilets, hawker centres, entertainment hubs (such as bars, lounges, nightspots and clubs), coffee shops, playgrounds, car parks, factories, shops, fitness centres, shopping malls and many other establishments. However, establishments are allowed to construct “smoking rooms” designated by law.

Smokers who are not following rules are asked to pay from S$200 to S$1000. Managers who allowed smoking are asked to pay S$200 (for the first offence) to S$500 (for the following offences). If you are seen littering (cigarette butts), you will be charged too. Smoking to public areas is a serious crime here in Singapore. Aside from that, smoking can also cause serious illness. You know that smoking can kill. If you are still smoking, you should be reminded that smoking could:

Cancer

Smokers are vulnerable to different types of cancer. Majority of the smokers suffer lung cancer. Aside from lung cancer, they are also vulnerable to oral, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreatic cancers.

Coronary heart disease

If nicotine and carbon monoxide come together, they can cause damage the lining of blood vessels. This can contribute to the development of heart disease.

Lung related diseases

Smoking can cause chronic airway obstruction.

Smoking is unhealthy for the smoker and the inhaler. Do yourself and others a favour-stop smoking as soon as possible or suffer the wrath. If you need help, you can consider rehabilitation centres. Smoking is addictive. You should stop before it is too late.

You should know that smoking is a bad habit that you should break. On top of that, it is banned (in certain areas) here in Singapore. If you smoke in a “non-smoking area”, you will be fined from S$200 to S$1000. Other Singaporeans are pursuing a proposal that seeks to free Singapore from Tobacco. The proposal is to stop or ban the supply of Tobacco to Singaporeans born from 2000. This will eventually result to the phasing out of Tobacco.

Of course, smokers find this idea ridiculous but the group only seeks to protect the health of the people around. Should this become a law, you are in for a lot of trouble. It is better to quit smoking-soon. In case you forgot or you are ignoring it, you should be reminded of the ill effects of smoking. Ill effects of smoking include:

Abstinence

The basic thing that you can do is restrain yourself from smoking. You can start from taking away all paraphernalia so you will not be distracted or pre occupied. If you abstain, you will feel a strong desire or urge to smoke but you can forget it by keeping yourself occupied or busy. More importantly, you should be serious and determined to stop it.

Therapies

If you feel that you need the help of other people, therapies are available. Doctor’s will help you get through this.  They can prescribe drugs that can assist you.

Smoking is not good. Yes, it feels good for a while but as it wavers, everything will be normal again. You should think that the effects are long term. You will suffer and it is not that good or fun anymore. Stop smoking now or regret it later. It is your choice.

Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Foursquare – these five social media sites have become today’s appraisers of the quality of service companies, especially restaurants. Here’s why:

Changing Landscape

In earlier times, when you get bad food or service from a restaurant, you either talk about it with the manager or you tell your friends not to go to said restaurant. Today, the damage badly-served customers can do is far worse: with the advent of social media, not only can they detail their bad experience for anyone to see, they can post it exactly where would-be other customers are expected to check.

Extreme Example

Understandably, this is bad news to restaurants that provide poor service as shown in the case of one Arizona restaurant. The restaurant, Amy’s Baking Co., has been infamous in its locality. They were so bad that even master chef Gordon Ramsay gave up on salvaging the establishment, a first in his popular show Kitchen Nightmares. But instead of learning from the experience, the owners lashed out at its online critics – to its own detriment.

Masters of Opinion

The more a restaurant cries foul and denies its faults, the more online critics will pounce on them, and the more people will know how bad they are. That was exactly what happened with Amy’s Baking Co. and many others. The power of social media is so strong today that they can make or break restaurants big and small. As evidence, a Harvard study showed that an increase in online rating directly translated to increased revenue. Poor ratings, of course, mean fewer customers.

Singapore Restaurants

How does Singaporean restaurant fare? Not too bad at all. Customers gave perfect ratings to a good number of restaurants, including Restaurant Andre, Shinji by Kanesaka, and CUT at Bayfront Avenue. Notably, Restaurant Andre ranked #38 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2013.