And so the cat’s out of the bag, the following 2 ads cost S$490,000 to produce and air..

Issues churning at NUS Business School Derrick A Paulo derrick@newstoday.com.sg

REMEMBER the recent National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School television commercial which claimed that the school is “preferred around the world by tomorrow’s elite” and that Singapore boys are “way too cute”?

It is still making waves — not for the response it drew but for the alleged hurry in which it was commissioned.

The advertisement cost about $490,000 to push out and the question now is whether the tender of competition for it was waived without following university procedures.

Sources say the school’s office of finance and administration initially refused to sign an approval of payment, as there was no issuance of purchase order for the advertisement, and the office was said to have known of the procurement only after the shoot had been commissioned.

Still, the ad agency was under a period contract with the school, and the advertisement and the funding for it — which came from profits from the school’s executive education programmes — were authorised by NUS Business School dean Chris Earley.

In two emails to staff, he wrote: “I think now is the time for us to proceed and take the gamble on it. It’s a lot of money but I anticipate this won’t be an issue for us.

“Given the time urgency, I think we just need to proceed and then I can apologise later for mistakes … With regard to procurement procedures, we just need to go ahead on my authorisation and I’ll write a note explaining why we had to act as quickly as we did.”

When contacted by Today, Prof Earley said: “All I did is I approved in-principle the ad itself … As the dean, I’m not actually responsible or aware of the operational details.

“We needed to get the ads out very quickly in time for the final push for enrolments to the BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration programme) … and the good news is our enrolments are at record levels.”

The enrolments for this year closed on June 5. The ad first aired on May 21.

How procedures for the ad were handled is now part of a wider internal investigation by NUS into corporate governance issues at its Business School.

What is 490K however, when the admin makes savings in the following ways?

We reuse all the balloons here, or at least ppl are told that these balloons are reused. Bet the ushers have to pick all of them out, keep the properly inflated ones, and reblow the half-fucked ones. Save rubber, and save money and the world at the same time.

The Chosen One of NUS allows his PA to bring his fav hot coffee in styrofoam cups into a hall that prohibits other patrons to bring in food and drinks. The only reason i can think of to explain this, so that he can drink it while it’s hot, if not cold liaoz = waste money.

Reception food at ceremonies are never thrown away, we ship them to malaysia to feed cows and pigs..

Didn’t do so many slots like last yr, opted out for 3 of them and didn’t get another. Hence was left with 17 slots. Somehow i found this year being more stressful than last yr, even though i did all 21 in 2005. A reason could be that alot of the procedures were never set properly and there were so many changes.

Last year, everyone was tired but @ least morale was at a decent level. Some ppl were around and they certainly made things more fun. Larry was the chief raider of reception food, and there was never a need to worry about getting ourselves some decent food. This year, all i can say is that the tiredness is still there, but my morale has decided to become a mole and tunnel underground. I think commencement more or less confirmed that we are the lowest lifeform at the venue, when even cleaners take food before us. Not say that the food is very good or what, but @ least give us that bit of welfare.

Welfare came in the form of catered meals provided by the new cafe called Nicole’s. Horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. Everyday 2 lousy mixed-veg rice 菜饭 caused me to usually eat whatever reception food that is available or ride out to fong seng or YIH to buy decent makan.

Another thing that i learnt is NAVY - Never Always Volunteer Yourself. Me and a few other ppl felt that there is no longer any incentive to take initiative there, and in fact, there could be some disincentives. Talking to a patron 5m from my assigned position resulted in an order to return to position, that was given to me when i was still talking to the patron. Now anything vaguely not sure, check with TL. In a way, it takes the load off me, I dun have to answer for things, if that’s the aim of it.

There are of course things that we can be truely proud of. Other than battling the tiredness and the low morale, commencement always served as a chance for different teams’ ushers to get to know one another better. I certainly got to know a few ppl better, and their working styles as well, though there wouldn’t be many chances to work with the ppl again.

Of cos being stationed at the vip door sometimes means that I can be the 1st to congratulate my friends right after they get off stage…heh…

Overall, it was still an amazing experience, where us ushers are exposed to a stressed and tiring environment for 8 days. And most of us emerge stronger and more united after the experience..