The SMU Maritime Economics Concentration (MEC) programme was featured in an article about the popularity of maritime related courses in local universities. Since the MEC was launched in 2013, the take-up rate of the courses has been encouraging, with close to full-class subscription. Each class takes up to 20 students. SMU Vice President for Business Development and Academic Director of International Trading Institute@ SMU said that Singapore’s maritime sector is moving towards the maritime service industry, and that most of the available jobs are shore-based operations where graduates no longer need to spend long periods at sea or work in shipyards. She stressed that many people have the wrong impression that maritime sector jobs are low-paying. She also emphasised that the sector is no longer male-dominated, adding that the public must change their ‘outdated’ impression of maritime. From 2014 to date, there have been 37 SMU students who have graduated with an Economics Major and Maritime Economics Concentration. Based on the annual Joint Graduate Employment Survey 2015 (GES) the estimated mean gross monthly starting salary for the MEC students was $3,600, with the highest being $4,200. SMU third-year School of Economics undergraduate Michelle Lee Puay San was part of the first batch of SMU students who attended a full term of the SMU-CBS structured exchange programme at the Copenhagen Business School. That in turn helped her to clinch an internship with NORDEN under the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Global Internship Award. She noted that people’s impression of the maritime sector are mainly what they see in television serials but being in the maritime industry does not mean a lifetime at sea. She explained that most maritime companies have offices in the heart of the city and that the maritime industry offers a wide range of career choices, including maritime economics, maritime insurance, maritime law and strategic planning, among others.