As the fourth and longest serving President of the Singapore Management University (SMU), Professor Arnoud Cyriel Leo De Meyer has helmed the University since September 2010. A leading figure in business school management, he spent over two decades in INSEAD and served as founding Dean of INSEAD’s Asia Campus in Singapore. Professor De Meyer joined SMU at an important juncture of SMU’s development, succeeding former President, Professor Howard Hunter, and he went on to build upon the strong foundation that had been set in place.
SMU has performed remarkably well for a university this young, and achieved very many highly significant milestones in its brief history since its incorporation in 2000. Under Professor De Meyer’s leadership, SMU has continued to deliver a transformative education experience to produce confident, versatile and well-rounded graduates who are highly sought after – as attested by the continued success of SMU graduates in landing meaningful global careers and securing competitive starting salaries. The University’s postgraduate programmes, as well as its executive development and continuing education outfits have all expanded very significantly during this period. SMU continues to grow from strength to strength – building its world-class faculty, and anchoring its research focus through its impactful research centres and institutes, several of which are at the cutting edge of knowledge and thought leadership. SMU has also significantly raised its thought leadership profile through hosting speaking events for many world political leaders and renowned thinkers. In addition, the University has forged strong linkages, collaboration and partnerships with academia, industry, government, social organisations and the community at large.
Professor De Meyer led in the expansion of the SMU campus with the development of the School of Law building and the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library, which were officially opened in March 2017. SMU’s outreach and advancement activities have also progressed exceedingly well under his leadership, with several significant gifts received during this period as many donors were, and still are, convinced and inspired by the vision and aspiration that Professor De Meyer, together with key members of the leadership team, have articulated for SMU. His leadership and direct involvement and support, notably in the areas of SMU’s internationalisation and reputation-building efforts – particularly in China, India, Southeast Asia and Europe – and SMU’s postgraduate programmes, have helped SMU to achieve impressive successes. Through his sterling leadership, SMU has transformed itself from being a “single product” university to becoming a “multi-product” university, which is how Professor De Meyer himself describes the major change. In the coming years, “SMU-X” (as well as its overseas version, named “SMU-XO”) – both the brainchild of Professor De Meyer and which have gained global recognition as innovative experiential learning -- will become an integral part of SMU’s pedagogical DNA, and be viewed as a defining step in SMU’s progress and development. This will be an important blueprint in SMU’s developmental map and will distinguish SMU from other leading institutions.
Professor De Meyer’s contribution to the wider business community, and to Singapore, comes in the form of, among others, his Board Directorship at the National Research Foundation, Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, Temasek Management Services and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. An international, research-active academic who publishes extensively, he consults widely for a number of organizations in Europe and Asia, including being a Member of the Board of Dassault Systemes.
For his contributions to both SMU and to Singapore, Professor Arnoud Cyriel De Meyer is awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold).
“It is indeed an honour to be awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) and I am really appreciative of the recognition given by the Singapore Government to my contributions to higher education in Singapore. Over the last eight years, I have given all my energy and enthusiasm to the development of SMU. While I inherited an excellent platform in 2010, SMU has since then made significant strides through the development of postgraduate programmes and executive courses for lifelong learning, interdisciplinary research projects and in enhancing its international reputation. As I intend to stay in Singapore, after stepping down as President of SMU at the end of December 2018, I hope that I can continue to contribute to the further growth and success of Singapore. I am very proud to be part of the Singapore story.” - Professor De Meyer