[4 August 2009]
SMU couple sets up students community service grant

25 grants will be awarded over three years to deserving students

Singapore, Tuesday, 4 August 2009 – The Singapore Management University believes in giving back to the community. While all students are expected to complete 80 hours of community service, over the years, SMU has also seen many alumni, faculty, staff and even current undergraduates give back generously to the university (see Appendix). This has benefitted numerous deserving students. It is a remarkably strong giving culture when the university is only nine years old. Now, two SMU staff - husband and wife Practice Associate Professor Themin Suwardy and Febrita Suwardy, are donating S$50,000 to help deserving students pay it forward in Singapore and abroad. Their gift establishes the SMU Community Service Projects (CSP) Grant.

The CSP Grant is for students who have already completed the compulsory 80 hours of community service required of every undergraduate. Almost half of all SMU students have gone on to do much more. In fact, more than 5,000 SMU students have volunteered over 400,000 hours. Special consideration will be given for those with financial need.

Under the CSP Grant, each student will get up to S$2,000 to defray their costs of embarking on an overseas community service project or to pursue one locally. The donation will support up to eight awards in the first two years and up to nine awards in the third year.

Prof Suwardy is an Associate Dean of the School of Accountancy and the Director of the Master's in Professional Accounting Programme, while Mrs Suwardy is with the Office of Advancement and Alumni. “Our students have touched many hearts with their community service involvement over the years. Hopefully, this Grant will further inspire them to continue to help others, beyond their compulsory community service hours,” he says. Prof Suwardy has also pledged all royalties from his newly-published casebook, “Understanding Financial Statements: A Case-based Approach”, to the CSP Grant.

“Our mission has always been to groom our students into socially-conscious business leaders,” says Dean of Students, Associate Professor Low Aik Meng. “To see our colleagues coming forward to help our students realise their dreams to give back to society is a most heartening one. They join other faculty, staff and donors who have given, so that others may also give,” he adds.

Second-year accountancy student Benjamin Loh, who initiated the Bare Your Sole Walk 2009, a fund-raising and awareness initiative in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Singapore, welcomes the grant. The active volunteer, who has served on overseas community service projects in the region, hopes to do more locally and overseas. “This grant is timely in opening up more doors for youths who want to make a difference to the larger community. Community service has allowed me to grow and discover different facets of myself and I'm heartened at how more of my peers can likewise share this joy with me,” he says.

Also looking forward to applying for this grant is a group of second-year accountancy students. They met during their orientation camp in 2008 and came together to embark on Project Agape: Tian Nan. Tian Nan is a Middle School in Kunming , Yunnan . Planning took about a year and the students spent three weeks during this summer holidays teaching English, computer skills and physical education. With plans to continue this project, this grant is timely. “Funding is usually the toughest part of mounting an overseas community service project and this grant would enable us to focus on our main goals of outreach better,” says group leader and second-year Accountancy student Alex Sim.

The first tranche of eight grants will be awarded in the new academic year starting in August.