A new course, titled America’s Pacific Century: Dialogues Between the United States and Asia”, and taught during spring, had brought 14 University of Southern California (USC) graduates to Singapore, where they were given opportunities to speak with two dozens of the region’s leading policymakers, analysts and scholars. The month-long course was led by USC’s Associate Professor and Graduate Director of International Relations Saori Katada and put together in collaboration with SMU Professor of Political Science and School of Social Sciences dean James Tang. The course kicked off on 20 May when seven SMU students arrived at USC to conduct interviews and participate in workshops, and to share their findings with their USC counterparts. Associate Prof Katada credited the importance of peer-to-peer learning in the students’ steep learning curve. Commending the SMU students, she said: “The Singaporean students were magnificent. Not only are they smart, articulate and very knowledgeable about the region, they were also very generous with their time both in showing our students around in Singapore and in sharing their ideas and knowledge.”