SMU and online payments firm PayPal have launched the first-ever financial technology (fintech) scholarship for undergraduates. The scholarship, the first of its kind in the Asia Pacific, is funded by PayPal. It will award a student about $30,000 to help pay university tuition fees. It will support students from SMU's School of Information Systems (SIS) specialising in areas such as fintech, cybersecurity or business analytics, and guarantee a 10-week internship with PayPal. SMU Associate Professor of Information Systems Venky Shankararaman, who is also the associate dean (education) of SIS, noted that they are working with PayPal as the firm is a leading payments company that will provide a platform during the internship for students to apply what they have learnt and solve real-world problems.