NOC Story

The history of NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) began way back in 2001, when NUS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Stanford University for students to intern at Stanford-affiliated technological start-ups – which was launched by the former NUS President, Professor Shih Choon Fong.

The first college was hence established in Silicon Valley, the epitome of extraordinary innovation and entrepreneurship. The first batch of 14 NOC students arrived in Silicon Valley in 2002.

With the success of the first NUS Overseas College, subsequent colleges were set up in Philadelphia - Bio Valley*, Shanghai, Stockholm, and many more.

With the rise of entrepreneurship in Singapore, in January 2008, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre (NEC) launched the innovative Local Enterprise Achiever Development (iLEAD) programme to offer NUS students the opportunity to intern at local start-up companies and be exposed to the entrepreneurial challenges in Singapore. The iLEAD programme was subsequently subsumed under the NOC office in 2010, and was renamed to NOC Singapore in 2015.

During that time, more colleges opened in India*, Beijing, Israel and New York.

In 2016, NOC set up in Munich and Lausanne*, cities with strong deep tech culture – to provide technical students with the opportunities to intern at deep tech start-ups (based on true technological innovation or scientific discovery). The programme targeted post-graduate students with deeper technical knowledge, and the first 6 students embarked on the programme in January 2017.

2018 kicked off with the expansion of NOC to Toronto and Southeast Asia. The Southeast Asia programme is a three-month internship that seeks to introduce students to the dynamic economies of Southeast Asia and expose them to start-ups in areas such as agricultural technology, social enterprise, e-commerce and more.

In 2019, NOC Shenzhen was introduced to give students the opportunity and exposure to the Start-up City of China, once dubbed as the manufacturing hub of the world.

The Birth of Whallycorn - NOC Mascot

After 20 years, NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) finally gets a mascot! The mascot was unveiled at the Gala Dinner in Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of NOC in October 2022.

Named Whallycorn, this mascot has the head of a unicorn and the belly of a whale (It is not a narwhale 😊). It was jointly created by NOC alumna Khor Ke Xin, and NOC.

While it is quite clear that the unicorn head symbolises the aspiration of all founders and startups to make meaningful impact. The belly of the whale has an interesting symbolism that requires some explanation.

In the study of mythology, the hero’s journey is a common template for stories. It has 3 acts:

First, “Departure”, where the hero, living in an ordinary world, receives a call to adventure. The hero refuses the call, but met a mentor who finally changes his mind. He then crosses a threshold to go into a fantasy world where the adventure takes place.

Second act, “Initiation”. The hero fights some monsters, aided by new supernatural friends he made, and wins the battle.

Third act, “Return”. The victory transformed the hero, with new wisdom and powers. The hero returns to his ordinary world and uses his new found abilities to benefit his people.

The last stage of the first act is particularly interesting. It is the final separation of the hero from his known world and self. By entering this stage, the hero shows a willingness to leave what is familiar to undergo a metamorphosis. This last stage is similar to what entrepreneurs go through when they decide to undertake a new venture.

This last stage of the first act has a name.
Literary scholar Joseph Campbell called it “Belly of the Whale”.

So now you have it — NOC Mascot Whallycorn, symbolising the willingness to be transformed, and the aspiration to make meaningful impact.