SMU's graduates have a reputation for being more polished and well-spoken, and highly sought after by management consultancy firms and investment banks. Differentiating itself from NUS and NTU, SMU provides quality education that would give students an edge in the job market by adopting an American-style approach in teaching, with students taught in small seminar groups of 40 to 50. To address a common complaint from employers that Singapore graduates do not think on their feet and are afraid to speak up, SMU students are graded for class participation. Employers who received the first batch of SMU graduates said they noted ?an SMU difference? and the then Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam called SMU ?a change agent of the university space? when it turned five.
The Straits Times