SMU has penned a five-year agreement with the University of Oregon (UO) for an international student-exchange programme to enable students to learn from both countries’ academic and sporting cultures. With UO’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Centre offering specialised courses in sports management and marketing, SMU exchange students will have the opportunity to study the best practices of the mature sports business market in the US, with possibilities of internships with renowned sports organisations. SMU Dean of Students Ong Siow Heng said that SMU students are starting to take an interest in careers in the sports industry and the sector may become the next most popular among students. He added that “Singapore is still quite new to the organisation and administration of sporting events and we want to expose our students to training in these areas, which we foresee will be [part of] the next boom industry here.” Mr Ong also revealed that SMU might look into offering more sports-related courses to add to its two current electives, Principles of Coaching in Sports, and Introduction to Sports Management.