The SMU Annual Report to Stakeholders 2014/15 has now been published and is available online for download here. This is what Mr Alan Goh, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Marketing, wrote in his Editor's Note.

Editor’s Note

This has been a landmark year for both Singapore and Singapore Management University (SMU) with SG50 and SMU15 celebrations marking the nation’s 50 years and University’s 15 years of progress respectively.

The University was honoured to host Singapore’s Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong who delivered the 7^th Ho Rih Hwa Leadership in Asia Public Lecture. This was especially poignant as Singapore’s first Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew gave the series’ inaugural lecture in 2002. Mr Lee Hsien Loong discussed the significant challenges facing Singapore over the next 50 years. You can read about his thought-provoking lecture in one of three feature articles in this SMU Annual Report to Stakeholders.

Another feature article gives highlights of SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer’s 2015 State of the University Address (PSoUA). Making “SMU Vision 2025 – Engage” his inspirational theme, Professor De Meyer outlined the University’s progress since he revealed SMU Vision 2025 a year ago. He was delighted that that many students, faculty and staff had made significant contributions and encouraged everyone to be actively engaged to bring the University to its next level of development.  

Research is central to realising SMU’s aspiration to be a great university. Our feature on research reports on the significant funding secured by our University for several new research initiatives that are of national importance. To further leverage on SMU’s existing quality research for Singapore, our University has expanded its designated Areas of Excellence in research from three to five. Several research initiatives were also related to SG50 as they reviewed Singapore’s development in various areas over the past 50 years.

These are the three feature articles, but there is much more besides in this Annual Report. There have been key changes in leadership at the highest levels of the University. Patron’s Day 2015 featured all four past and present SMU Presidents in a dialogue moderated by SMU Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping. Our students have been highly successful in diverse fields; exciting upgrades to campus facilities have begun; our undergraduate curriculum has continued to evolve and many prestigious lectures, conferences, and broadcasts have highlighted SMU’s role as a key thought leader.

I hope you will enjoy reading about this momentous year.

Alan Goh

Vice President, Corporate Communications and Marketing