SMU Education Forum: In the second of a four-part series on the future of work, SMU Provost Professor Lily Kong shared her views on how universities must transform to continue giving their graduates a competitive edge. She stressed that higher education cannot be front-loaded into three or four years before students go out to work. "Once they complete university, they must be prepared to come back every few years to update their knowledge and skills," said Prof Kong, adding that SMU is already working on making more of its courses available to alumni through SMU Academy.

Prof Kong said the university has to keep experimenting and evolving, to keep the SMU difference. She returns to Minister Ong's recent speech in Parliament and agrees that Singapore is "at the threshold of major changes". It is not just SMU. All universities also need to respond to these changes to continue giving their graduates the edge.