Blog 3: Potential Research Project Topic

Description:
Students who have their lunch in Science canteen during lunch hours (around one to two p.m.) often face the problem of overcrowding and the lack of seats. Not only are there insufficient seats, overcrowding also results in long queues in certain stalls. Students or NUS staff members who have limited time for lunch often have to settle for stalls with shorter queues or even buy packed lunch.

I have observed that there are several groups of people who are non-NUS staff coming to Science canteen for their lunch. They are probably staff from NUH who have their own canteen too. They usually come in big groups (four and above) and tend to spend time chatting after finishing their lunch. The seats are thus occupied even after they have finished their lunch while students or NUS staff are scavenging for seats. Students should have the privilege of using canteen facilities since the food is cheaper than that outside of university canteens.

I believe that preventing non-NUS staff from using canteen facilities will solve the problem of overcrowding during lunch peak hours.

Problem Statement:
The objective of this study is to analyze if preventing non-NUS staff from using canteen facilities will solve the problem of overcrowding during lunch peak hours.

Reader (party who is in position to act on my proposal):
Office of Estate and Development, OED

Purpose Statement:
The objective of this report is to inform OED of the crowding of Science canteen by non-NUS staff during lunch peak hours and the inconvenience it has brought to NUS staff and students.
Another objective is to convince OED that preventing non-NUS staff from using canteen facilities will solve the problem of overcrowding during lunch peak hours.

An attitudinal survey will be done to investigate if students do identify the problem of overcrowding during lunch hours. The analysis will determine if non-NUS staff are exploiting canteen facilities and if there is a need to prevent non-NUS staff from using them. Solutions to the problem will also be collated from the survey.

One of the ways to solve the problem is to designate areas for NUS students and staff (there are designated areas for NUS staff already), which are accessible only to staff and students during the peak hours. Since a lot of work has to be done if the proposal is approved, the survey serves as a population analysis of the seriousness of the problem and the urgency to solve the problem.