Mr Ratan Tata receives honorary doctorate from Singapore Management University
[Singapore, 17 March 2014 (Monday)] – The Singapore Management University (SMU) today honours the remarkable achievements of Mr Ratan N. Tata and confers upon him a degree of Doctor of Business (Honoris Causa).
The honorary degree was conferred at SMU this morning by SMU Chancellor Mr Yong Pung How, and jointly presented by Singapore’s Minister for Education Mr Heng Swee Keat, and SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer.
The conferment ceremony, which was followed by a dialogue with Mr Ratan Tata, was attended by about 100 distinguished guests, including HE Ms Vijay Thakur Singh, High Commissioner of India in Singapore; HE Ambassador-at-large Mr Gopinath Pillai, Chairman of the Institute of South Asian Studies; Ms Ho Ching, Executive Director & CEO of Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd; Mr SR Nathan, SMU Distinguished Senior Fellow and former President of the Republic of Singapore; and SMU Pro-Chancellor Mr JY Pillay.
The honorary degree awarded to Mr Tata, an internationally respected philanthropist and corporate leader, is SMU’s highest honour and acknowledges his achievements as a visionary entrepreneur, a societal leader and an astute businessman. In 2008, the Singapore Government also awarded Mr Ratan Tata the 2007 Honorary Citizen award for his valuable contribution to the country’s growth and development.
“Mr Tata is an eminent individual who has exhibited true distinction in business and philanthropy and who has strong and active connections with SMU both directly and through his organisations. The award recognises the aspirations, values and ideals that he and his organisations share with our University,” said Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman of SMU Board of Trustees, who delivered the Citation on Mr Tata at the conferment ceremony.
Mr Ho added, “As a young pioneering university, SMU shares the same values and ethos as those nurtured by Mr Tata at the Tata Group over the past two decades. The Tata Group focuses on such key principles as ethics, governance, and corporate social responsibility, and keeps the general populace at the core of its operating philosophy and decisions. Similarly, we at SMU nurture tomorrow’s business leaders with a strong sense of responsibility towards the communities in which they operate. The award recognises the aspirations, values and ideals that Mr Tata and his organisations share with our University.”
On being conferred the honorary degree, Mr Tata said, “I am pleased to receive this award from the Singapore Management University. I am happy to deepen my relationship with Singapore, and for this opportunity to be able to further engage, nurture and inspire bright university students in Asia to be responsible business leaders who will lead the way in global development in future.”
SMU and the Tata Group
Mr Tata has strong and active connections with SMU both directly and through his organisations.
SMU and the Tata Group, under Mr Tata’s leadership, have developed a strong relationship and several important partnerships. These include:
- Close to 100 SMU students have benefited from internship opportunities in the Tata Group’s companies over the last nine years;
- In 2009, SMU and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) established a partnership through the SMU-TCS iCity Lab in which TCS invested S$6 million to lay the foundation for research and development of cloud-based information technology solutions for intelligent cities in Asia and worldwide;
- In 2012, SMU conducted a case writing workshop in Mumbai with 22 managers of the Tata Group, six SMU faculty and three case writers. This resulted in the publication of five SMU-Tata case studies; these cases are used within the Tata Group and SMU for talent development and for classroom teaching;
- SMU also conducts executive development workshops with TCS.
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