SMU will mark the beginning of its second decade by offering a new liberal education curriculum, a form of academic study that is still lacking in the local tertiary education landscape. Scholars under the new [University Scholars] programme can spend a semester at a US liberal arts college and will graduate with both a bachelor's and a master's degree at the end of five years. SMU's president, Professor Howard Hunter, said that the University's success in educating students will be measured by whether they have a firm base of knowledge and all the tools to increase that knowledge.