Pathway to a bright future
SINGAPORE Management University (SMU) is a premier government-funded university known for producing graduates with a total skill set, comprising hard knowledge skills, soft people skills and “heart” skills. Students develop these skills through an interactive pedagogy pioneered in Singapore by SMU.
In this unrivalled learning approach, students are taught by highly qualified faculty in MBA-style seminar rooms where participation in class is the norm.
Students are emboldened to speak up and share their opinions and perspectives with their professors and classmates. Participants benefit tremendously from such discussions and debates that are often lively and spontaneous.
SMU Accountancy graduate Belinda Teo, a Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young, explained: “It gave me the confidence to speak up and communicate effectively, which is a valuable asset in the work environment.”
Added to this are the numerous global opportunities available to SMU students. They have the choice of participating in an international student exchange with any one of the 218 overseas universities across 48 nations, or summer study programmes or overseas study missions.
In the most recent cohort of graduates, approximately 84% of students went on at least one global exposure trip. SMU hopes to have 100% of students embarking on an overseas trip in the next couple of years.
Internships are compulsory for SMU students with more than 50% completing between two and six.
Over 10,000 companies eagerly employ SMU interns for a minimum period of 10 weeks during which students put into practice what they have learnt in the classroom, develop confidence and self-reliance, and acquire new knowledge and skills.
Internships also enable students to make informed choices about their future careers, and give employers a chance to identify good prospective employees and offer them jobs even before they graduate.
Students also contribute a minimum of 80 hours of community service. Such projects build their “heart” skills, teaching them to be socially conscious and responsible. One such community service project, Project Namaste, was set up in 2006.
A member, Janel Loi, shares: “My team heads to Nepal annually to serve the community. Teaching Nepali students and teachers English is our main objective. We hope to raise the literacy standards of the students and maximise their career opportunities and hopefully their standard of living.”
The outcome of all this is that SMU graduates possess a healthy balance of IQ and EQ – qualities that are highly valued by employers. It was not surprising then that its graduates continue to do well in the annual Graduate Employment Surveys, with over 90% securing jobs within six months of graduation, and 61% receiving two or more job offers in 2012.
Home to over 8,000 students, SMU offers six undergraduate degree programmes in Accountancy, Business Management, Economics, lnformation Systems Management, Law and Social Sciences. SMU has also achieved the distinction for being one of the youngest universities in the world to be conferred the prestigious AACSB accreditation for its Accountancy and Business Management programmes, and the EQUIS accreditation for its Business Management programme.
Outstanding students have the opportunity to take a double degree programme, combining any two degrees. Single degree students may also enrol in any one of the 21 second majors, including finance, marketing, accounting, corporate communication, and arts & culture management. Students enjoy the options given, with 70% of them taking a double degree or second major.
Malaysian Edwin Chong Lik Ming, who graduated with distinction (cum laude) in 2007, said he took a Business Management & Information Systems Management double degree because he wanted to be as prepared as possible for the working world.
He said this led to his appointment as Associate at Deutsche Bank, because “On top of my skills picked up from Information Systems, I had the business and finance knowledge to quickly understand how the products and business worked.”
He is currently studying the SMU Master of IT in Business, Analytics programme full-time.
SMU is situated in the heart of the city centre in Bras Basah. It has a state-of-the-art campus in close proximity to Singapore’s financial and business district, and is the first university in Singapore to have an underground train station (MRT) right at its doorstep.
In addition, studying at SMU is also quite affordable. Those offered admission are eligible to apply for government subsidies to allow them to pay affordable tuition fees. Financially needy students may also apply for tuition fee loans and bursaries to fund their studies at SMU.
Applications for the 2014 admission close on April 1.
For more information, visit www.admissions.smu.edu.sg.