SMU Board of Trustees Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping was the keynote speaker and a panellist at The Straits Times (ST) Education Forum 2017. He said Singapore's higher education system, which largely follows a "relatively antiquated" British system of requiring students to decide on a major when they apply to university, contradicts its own philosophy of getting Singaporeans to see education as a lifelong exercise. "We talk a lot, even at undergraduate level, about how we shouldn't pigeonhole students when they are so young," said Mr Ho. But Singapore is not really "walking the talk about flexibility and lifelong learning" if it does not address this issue of forcing students to decide at too young an age, he said.

Forum panellists were also asked by ST Managing Editor (and moderator of the forum) Ms Fiona Chan about traits they would look out for if they were hiring someone to take over their own job. SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer said having international experience can help one acquire characteristics that "you don't learn by writing an algorithm". "For the young people in this room, don't think about a fixed path. Go overseas, get yourself into difficult situations, get out of this wonderful infrastructure... go to places where services don't work very well."