[15 August 2009]
SMU welcomes 10th and record intake of students for Academic Year 2009

Singapore, 15 August 2009 – Singapore Management University (SMU) welcomes its tenth batch of freshmen at its Convocation Ceremony today. SMU's 2009 intake of over 1,800 students is the university's largest to date, an increase from 1,660 last year. They will pursue existing undergraduate degree programmes in business management, accountancy, economics, social sciences, information systems management and law.

SMU's holistic admissions criteria ensures an annual intake of freshmen who display 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 artists, young entrepreneurs and passionate community service volunteers. This attests to the growing popularity of SMU as a university of choice among all-rounder, academically accomplished students.

Outstanding incoming students can tap on over 200 scholarships in SMU, including the ARA Asset Management Scholarship, Lim Hoon Foundation Scholarship, N.R. Thadani Scholarship, Lim Hang Hing Scholarship and University Study Awards introduced this year. With the strong support from external private donors and the university community, including alumni, students and faculty, 1 in 8 freshmen continue to be awarded scholarships, a very high ratio of scholarships available for freshmen in a local university.

Besides merit-based awards, in line with SMU's needs-blind admissions approach where no qualified student will be turned away just because he or she cannot afford tuition fees here, SMU has a wide range of bursaries, grants and subsidies in place. This is especially important in the current economic climate, where needy families need as much financial support as possible as their children embark on university life. One of SMU's most attractive bursaries is the SMU Financial Grant, which is available to freshmen who have already used all available loan schemes or subsidies to cover up to 90% of their tuition fees. SMU has set aside S$500,000 this year for this Grant alone, providing up to S$2,000 per student from low income families. The grant is readily available as long as applicants meet the minimum eligibility criteria. The SMU Financial Grant is available to some 300 students or 1 in 6 freshmen.

A hallmark of a global-oriented education at SMU, all local and international students will also have the chance to receive global exposure through programmes such as overseas university exchanges, Business Study Missions, overseas internships and community involvement projects, summer study, overseas conferences and work and travel programmes. The global exposure complements SMU's American-style interactive teaching pedagogy and broad-based curriculum that emphasises compulsory internships and community service.

Even before they started school, over 400 SMU freshmen have already participated in a series of community service projects during the orientation period in July: starringSMU 2009, Project Balloons of Bliss and SMU Swim 2009. They carried out spring-cleaning, food packing and distribution, organised games and excursions and interacted with beneficiaries in 13 social-welfare organisations, organised fund-raising and awareness events, and even mapped out wheel-chair friendly routes in a housing estate. Participants in the three projects raised over $85,000 in total through a charity car wash, swimming challenge and sale of balloon sculptures. The all-rounded undergraduate experience at SMU is aimed at shaping undergraduates into visionary business leaders who possess cross-cultural understanding, are compassionate and selfless towards society, civic-minded, and who are also equipped with highly relevant industry and out-of-classroom experiences.

In SMU tradition, all freshmen attended the university's unique team building camp in July-August. The camp is led by senior student facilitators with the objective of introducing freshmen to SMU's collegial environment and inculcating the important SMU ‘CIRCLE' values of Commitment, Integrity, Responsibility, Collegiality, Leadership and Excellence, the university's clarion call for newcomers.