Singapore, 13 Jan 2012 (Friday) – The Singapore Management University (SMU) marks its 12th Anniversary Celebrations on its Patron's Day today.
It is also the first homecoming for Singapore 's newly-elected President, President Tony Tan Keng Yam in his new role as SMU Patron. President Tony Tan had spent three decades shaping the higher education landscape in Singapore during his tenure as a Cabinet minister.
It was in 1997 when the Singapore Government first mooted the idea of a third university for Singapore. Dr Tony Tan, who was then Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister and who was also tasked to oversee higher education in Singapore, believed that the new university should be different from the other two established institutions. SMU was to be an experiment in diversity.
In 2004 at SMU's first Commencement, Dr Tony Tan commented, “ From its conception, SMU was designed to provide a different model of university education here in Singapore. We wanted to start with a clean slate instead of just adding another public university in the mould of the existing ones. From this starting point emerged a confluence of factors that make SMU special.”
It was later determined that the new institution should be an American-style university offering a broad-based education, in contrast to Singapore's tradition of the more specialised British model and it would be modelled after the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
SMU was incorporated on 12 January 2000. The date was also designated Patron's Day in celebration of the university's birthday. Singapore's sixth President, President S.R. Nathan, became SMU's first Patron. Dr Tony Tan succeeded him as the seventh President of Singapore on 1 September 2011.
Today, SMU's new Patron, President Tony Tan, will be participating in the evening celebrations, along with 100 invited guests, and about 1400 SMU students, staff, faculty and alumni.
President Tony Tan said, “I am glad to note that SMU has become an integral part of our vibrant university sector. In the short span of time since its incorporation, SMU has grown into a thriving institution delivering high quality education and research. SMU graduates are confident, articulate and prepared to take the initiative. The distinctive programmes in business and management offered by SMU are widely accepted and add to Singapore's attractiveness as a global financial hub.”
Entering the higher education space as the first government-funded private university in year 2000, SMU has been dubbed a “change agent” and a catalyst for innovation, redefining the university landscape in Singapore in the last decade. Engendering an entrepreneurial spirit, SMU grew rapidly in a short span of time and pioneered a number of ‘firsts' - from its hallmark American-styled pedagogy of small, interactive seminar-style classes, holistic admissions system, broad-based curriculum, global-oriented education, multi-disciplinary learning and research, to its autonomy in university governance and administration, and ability to impact society meaningfully.
From some 300 students and one school in a single building, today SMU has more than 7,000 undergraduate and post-graduate students, six schools and 19 research centres and institutes in its city campus. As testimony of SMU's unique pedagogy and goal to groom outstanding business leaders and creative entrepreneurs with a strong sense of social responsibility, close to 100% of the university's 8,500 alumni found employment upon graduation and remain sought-after by employers across industries. Many of the alumni have even started businesses of their own and applied the SMU ethos of contributing back to society in their personal and professional lives.
SMU President, Professor Arnoud De Meyer said, “In grooming visionary entrepreneurs and global business leaders for tomorrow, SMU recognises the importance of preparing our students to be responsible citizens, demonstrating leadership and integrity within the communities they live and work. SMU students are thus encouraged to give back to society.”
He added, “With a firm foundation for undergraduate education in place, SMU is now moving to a new phase of growth—to become an Asian knowledge hub for research centred round the world of business and management. We are going to expand our postgraduate and professional programmes. In fact, just last year, SMU launched new Master programmes in Law, Communication Management, Quantitative Finance, and Innovation. In all postgraduate research programmes, the focus is on equipping graduates with the knowledge, skills and ability to conduct rigorous and relevant research in their respective areas and preparing them for careers in academia and industry.”
To-date, 102 students have graduated from SMU's postgraduate research programmes and there are currently 92 students pursuing research-based degrees. A total of 24 postgraduate programmes in areas such as wealth management, applied economics and Singapore's first Juris Doctor programme, enable the advancement of knowledge and education.
Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman, SMU Board of Trustees, said, “Now, when I look around our university I do so with a great sense of pride and satisfaction. Because as the founding Chairman, I had the honour to guide it from being simply an idea, a hope or dream, to being the highly regarded, thriving academic institution it is today. But whatever my part in bringing SMU to this impressive stage in its development, my role is little compared to that of one individual -- a man who through his vision, unwavering commitment to quality and yet openness to change even as we evolved, has more than anyone else, made SMU the unquestionable success that it has become.”
Mr Ho said, “Today we welcome President Tony Tan back, as someone more than a Guest- of-Honour. Not only do we greet him now as Singapore's new President but also as our new Patron. His election as President shows how much Singapore values his immense contribution to the nation's prosperity and development. His new role as SMU's Patron is also a fitting tribute to his immeasurable influence in shaping the educational landscape of Singapore and establishing SMU as something very different and indeed very special.”
SMU's 12th Anniversary Celebrations will kick off with the arrival of President Tony Tan. He will be invited to take a walk down memory lane with SMU student leaders and experience the vibrant life of an SMU undergraduate. He will also be presented his very own SMU matriculation card and a gift specially created for him by SMU students. The oral history project, which documents how SMU has grown to where it is today, as well as the people and idea behind the SMU story will also be launched.
Annex – SMU Milestones