The Straits Times, p B8
The Straits Times, p B8
Lianhe Zaobao, p 13
Berita Harian, p 3
The Business Times, p 10
The Business Times, p 10
Channel NewsAsia (Oct 17)
Channel NewsAsia (Oct 17)
Channel NewsAsia (Oct 17)
Channel 5
TODAY, p 22
TODAY, p 22
Singapore, 17 October 2011 (Monday) – Today, the Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that creates a framework for collaboration in education, research, and student and faculty exchanges. The signing of the landmark agreement between the two autonomous universities in Singapore was witnessed by Minister of State for Defence and Education, Mr Lawrence Wong.
Hailing the collaboration as an important milestone for the tertiary sector, Mr Lawrence Wong said, “This institutional collaboration between SUTD and SMU shows that our universities not only compete to spur one another towards excellence, but also work together to complement each other's strengths. Initiatives such as this ultimately benefit Singaporean students by widening the range and quality of offerings in our university system.”
The collaboration will permit the two universities to complement each other's strengths and bring together the best thinking and programmatic activities in technology, design and management to create novel opportunities for students, and to address some of the world's most significant research challenges. The areas of cooperation will be far reaching and include course development, collaborative teaching and research, student exchanges, and joint participation in co-curricular activities.
SUTD offers degrees in architecture, engineering and information technology and an introduction to management and entrepreneurship. The agreement will facilitate the co-development between SMU and SUTD of five elective courses in management as well as allow students from both universities to attend elective courses at the partner university. High-achieving SUTD students will have the opportunity to be considered for advanced placement in the Master in Management (MIM) and Master of Science in Innovation (MI) programmes at SMU. Both programmes are specifically designed for students with minimal business backgrounds in their undergraduate education. The MIM programme introduces students to the field of management and business studies and equips them with the conceptual, professional and interpersonal skills for managerial effectiveness, while the MI programme is designed to teach anyone to be an innovator in his or her field.
In addition, the MOU allows for students from both universities to attend and their faculty to teach in the workshops and seminars on topics of joint interest. The universities will also be sharing pedagogy and exploring curriculum spin-offs that may lead to new collaborative research projects. Postgraduate students will also enjoy collaboration and research mentorship of professors at the other university.
SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer said, “The rapid growth of Asia gives rise to several critical issues and opportunities. With SMU's strengths in information security, behavioural sciences, innovation in urban environments, transportation, and clean energy and environment, we can play an important role together with SUTD in research to find viable solutions to address the issues and to seize new opportunities for knowledge creation.”
“At SUTD, we develop and shape tomorrow's technical leaders and innovators. We believe that providing our students with a strong technical foundation alone is not sufficient. To develop innovative technical solutions that will impact the world, students must have a multi-disciplinary education with exposure to humanities, arts and social sciences as well as the business and management fundamentals that SMU can provide. We are delighted to partner with SMU to not only offer SUTD students the opportunity to take elective courses and pursue postgraduate programmes but also for student and faculty exchanges from both universities for research and education, including co-curricular activities”, SUTD President Professor Thomas L Magnanti said.
Annex – Five elective courses at SMU for SUTD students
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About Singapore University of Technology and Design
The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) is Singapore's fourth publicly-funded university, and one of the first universities in the world to incorporate the art and science of design and technology into a multi-disciplinary curriculum. Established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Zhejiang University (ZJU), SUTD seeks to nurture technically-grounded leaders and innovators in the fields of engineering and architecture to serve societal needs.
SUTD's first intake of up to 500 students will matriculate in April 2012. Through its stringent admissions criteria and collaborations with MIT and ZJU, SUTD will bring together the best minds to seek solutions to modern-day challenges and create a better future.
For more information, please visit www.sutd.edu.sg .