Speaking at SMU’s 10th commencement ceremony on Thursday, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat conceded that its founding was a risk that paid off. Ten years after its first batch graduated, the university is still grooming students who are highly sought after. He cited statistics such as a 91.7 per cent employment rate for last year's batch of graduates as an example. Among the graduates yesterday were the pioneer batches of four new postgraduate programmes, namely a PhD in Business, and Masters programme in Laws, Science in Communication Management, and Science in Innovation. One of them, Madam Luo Ling Ling, graduated with a Masters' in Law while caring for her three young children and working as a litigation lawyer. SMU also conferred two honorary degrees – a Doctor of Laws on former chief justice Chan Sek Keong and a Doctor of Information Systems on former Xerox Corporation chief John Seely Brown.