Design Your Own Course

What DYOC is about

The idea of Design-Your-Own-Course (DYOC) was mooted in NUS to encourage our students to explore learning beyond their disciplines by engaging the subject matter experts in NUS. DYOC provides an option for students to pursue interests outside their disciplines, broadening their knowledge, and encouraging them to see “learning” as a lifetime endeavour.

The DYOC scheme gives a student* opportunities to pursue self-directed learning, with up to 8 units allowed within the UE space during his or her Undergraduate candidature and will be graded on a ‘CS/CU’ (Completed Satisfactorily/Completed Unsatisfactorily) basis. The DYOC scheme is not applicable to students in the following student careers: Continuing Professional Education (CPE), Graduating (GD) & Non-graduating (NG) careers.

The maximum number of units that students can gain from DYOC scheme throughout candidature is subject to the condition that the sum of units for DYOC and IaaS (Internship-as-a-Service) courses is less than or equal to 8 units. One DYOC course constitutes either 2 units, 3 units or 4 MC units in the UE space.

The only option available:

  • DYOC via group work with supervision – a group of 10 or more students coming together to learn from a thesis advisor.

    • *Exclusion: Medicine, Dentistry, LAW, SCALE

    How to embark on the DYOC journey


    Group formation and submission of an application:

    • Students can form their groups through many ways and means (e.g., own social network through residential living and learning);

    • Once a group is formed (including the group thesis advisor), please appoint a student representative to log into myEduRec to submit an application [Navigation: Student Academics > Design Your Own Course].  A copy of the User Guide can be found here.

    • Upon approval of application, the relevant DYOC would be pre-allocated.

    Timelines (to register for DYOC group in Semester 2, AY2026/2027):

    Date Item
    Now – 27 December 2026 Form a group and get a thesis advisor
    28 December 2026 – 6 January 2027 Application Period for DYOC (Group)
    8 January 2027 – 13 January 2027 Processing of DYOC (Group) applications
    14 January 2027 onwards Outcome of DYOC (Group) applications*

    *Note: Pre-allocation of DYOC module course codes could take place after Round 3 on the published schedule for Course Registration for Semester Two of AY2026/2027.

    Link to User Guides:

    • Please click here for the DYOC (Group) Video and User Guide.


    Questions about DYOC Scheme?

    Please refer to this link for the Frequently Asked Questions on the DYOC Scheme.