In Singapore, transfers between colleges are unheard of. But officials at SMU, NUS and NTU report that some of their students are taking a gap year. They do this in order to set up a business or to extend their work or research attachments. Indeed the new generation of students around the world is used to mixing and matching things to suit its tastes. Students don't buy whole albums of songs, for example. Instead, they pick and choose to create their own playlists.