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Singapore Management University

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The Singapore Management University (Abbreviation: SMU; Chinese: 新加坡管理大学; Malay: Universiti Pengurusan Singapura) was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and holds the unique position of being Singapore's first private university funded by the government.

The SMU approach to preparing graduates for an era of unparalleled choices is a focused but broad-based education. Modeled after the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the USA's top business school, SMU's curriculum aims to groom outstanding business leaders and creative entrepreneurs capable of excelling in a rapidly changing and dynamic world.

SMU is home to over 3,800 students and comprises four schools offering five undergraduate degree programmes: the Lee Kong Chian School of Business; the School of Accountancy; the School of Economics and Social Sciences; and the School of Information Systems, which has a partnership with IT-renowned Carnegie Mellon University. The university offers master's degree programmes in Wealth Management, Applied Finance, Professional Accounting, Applied Economics and in Economics and Finance (by research). The Wealth Management degree is offered in collaboration with the Swiss Banking School and the Wealth Management Institute. The university will continue to introduce new master's programmes and there will also be development of a university-wide PhD programme. SMU also has a dedicated Office of Research and provides public and customised programmes through Executive Education.

SMU has sparked controversy in the local and regional media by establishing its position as being "different" from the local legacy universities, challenging their pedagogy, operations and strategic development. Its advertisements, which feature SMU undergraduates in various acrobatic poses, have served to invoke comments about exactly how different, and how much better SMU graduates are.

Contents

Location and Campus

Formerly occupying Singapore's historical Bukit Timah campus, the university has recently moved into its permanent campus right in the heart of Singapore. Flanked by museums, theatres, art galleries, cafes, restaurants and a range of shopping choices, the new $426 million, 4.5 hectares purpose-built city campus is a first in Singapore where, like major cities in the world, intellectual exchange is a seamless activity between the university, the nearby central business district and surrounding arts & heritage institutions.

Students will enjoy state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities tailored to SMU’s unique pedagogy of small class sizes, group discussions and participative learning. Ample open spaces create green lungs to revitalize and rejuvenate the corridors of knowledge while, at the same time, return the Bras Basah park to the public. The distinctive architecture of the city campus includes an underground concourse of retail shops, F&B outlets and student activity rooms that connects the four schools, library and the future Bras Basah MRT Station. Located in the civic district of the city, the city-campus will support the university's eventual 6,500 undergraduates, along with students in its future graduate programmes.

Faculty

To deliver the world-class curriculum, an outstanding faculty has been handpicked to advance knowledge in teaching and research. Besides recruiting some of the best academics in their field, SMU also taps successful businessmen for their specific expertise and management skills to combine academic vigour with hands-on business savvy.

SMU is headed by globally renowned academics such as President Howard Hunter (PhD, Yale), Provost Tan Chin Tiong, Dean Bobby Mariano (PhD, Stanford), Dean Steve Miller (PhD, Carnegie-Mellon), etc. Former presidents include Professor Ronald Frank and Professor Janice Bellace. The faculty is handpicked from institutions grounded in academic, research and practice associations, to deliver cutting-edge knowledge in the new economy.

Many members of the faculty hold degrees from top private American universities like the Ivy League institutions, MIT and Stanford.

SMU has also recruited prolific faculty members such as former Ambassador, Pang Eng Fong, poet, writer and creative thinking expert Kirpal Singh, and actress, screenwriter, Dr. Margaret Chan to develop the broad-based education SMU aims to deliver.

Vision & Mission of SMU

Vision


"To be a premier university, internationally recognised for its world class research and distinguished teaching." 



Mission


To create and disseminate knowledge. SMU aspires to generate leading edge research with global impact as well as to produce broad-based, creative and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy. SMU is committed to an interactive, participative and technologically-enabled learning experience. Towards this end, it will provide a rewarding and challenging environment for faculty, staff and students to kindle and sustain a passion for excellence. 



Strategic Goals





Shared Values





Academics



Schools and centres

Singapore Management University has four undergraduate schools:

The university offers bachelor's degree programmes in Business Management, Accountancy, Economics, Information Systems Management and Social Science. SMU's undergraduate programme allows students the flexibility to major in cross-displinary areas such as Economics, Law, Accounting, Finance, Quantitative Finance, Marketing, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Corporate Communications, Operation Management, Business Statistics & Actuarial Mathematics and Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources.



Graduate and professional programs

The following schools and centres offer graduate programs:

The university offers master's degree programmes in Wealth Management[link], Applied Finance[link], Professional Accounting[link], Applied Economics and in Economics and Finance (by research)[link]; as well as a PhD programme in Information Systems[link].


Together with her partners, Singapore Management University (SMU) offers valuable expertise and relevant education for the challenges of the information age in her executive education programmes. Some of SMU's academic collaborators and industry partners for the Executive Education include University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, European Business School and Mercer Human Resource Consulting LLC.



Admission

Admission to SMU is highly competitive and is based on a broad range of criteria - including A-Level results or Polytechnic results, SAT scores, a panel interview, a reflective essay, and the other qualities and achievements of an applicant. 


SMU’s holistic admissions criteria ensures an annual intake of freshmen who displays not only academic excellence but are also multi-talented with a wide range of skills, aptitude and leadership qualities. Many amongst the present intake are national sportsmen, accomplished musicians, young entrepreneurs and community service volunteers. The academic credentials of the students for the 2005 intake are also impressive, with 1 in 2 ‘A’ level students scoring ABB or above and 1 in 4 scoring AAA or above.


The university received 10,550 applications for the 1,260 places for the academic year starting in Fall 2006.


The following are the average SAT I scores (out of 1600) for the 2004 freshmen cohort:





Graduates


The university has sparked positive responses from the Deputy Prime Minister, who encouraged the other 2 local universities to model themselves after SMU. Graduates have been acknowledged to be "confident and articulate" by several MNCs and global firms.


SMU graduates were hired in a wide spectrum of professions, including financial, accounting, consulting and services sectors, with more than 40% in banking, finance, auditing and accounting. 


A large number of SMU graduates have been hired by employers such as Citigroup, McKinsey, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, Standard Chartered Bank, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and Royal Dutch Shell as well as the public sector.


In addition, Investment Banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase have hired an increasing number of SMU graduates into their front-office Investment Banking analyst positions.


Other companies which have recruited SMU interns and graduates include UBS, Deutsche Bank, General Electric and Barclays Capital.


According to a Singapore Press Holdings publication, employers have endorsed SMU graduates as exceptional recruits with 100% of SMU graduates securing jobs within six months of graduation, where the top 20% earning impressive starting salaries of more than $3,800. This compares favorably with the top 20% of National University of Singapore's Business graduates earning $3,208 and the top 20% of Nanyang Technological University's Business and Accounting graduates earning $3,050.[link]



Notes


Singapore Management University is sometimes confused with the Singapore Institute of Management, a tertiary institution specialising in executive education courses.



External links

Official university sites:

Non-official sites:











 





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