The Singapore Management University (SMU) welcomed its 19th cohort of 2186 freshmen on Friday, 17 August 2018 at the SMU Hall, School of Law.

The day’s celebrations began with freshmen being welcomed at their individual schools, followed by the annual mega co-curricular activities fair VIVACE (SMU's largest CCA fair with more than 100 student clubs showcasing the best of Student Life) at the Campus Green and Concourse.

Said VIVACE Organising Committee Chairman, Glann Lee (School of Accountancy), “The four months leading up to VIVACE has been a rollercoaster ride but I am extremely fortunate to have inherited a team with complementary skills. I enjoyed getting my hands dirty and doing thing together with my team and this paid off very well as I could slowly understand how each of them felt and functioned and managed to tweak my way of leading them. My main aim was to push my team to achieve something they never thought they could. The smiles of everyone during the event made the blood, sweat and tears all worth it. It has been a really good experience and one that will be etched in my mind forever.”

The day ended with the Academic Year Opening Ceremony in the evening at the SMU Hall. Themed “Imagine Better”, about 500 guests comprising SMU Board of Trustees, senior management, faculty, staff, donors, alumni, freshmen and student leaders were treated to a sit-down dinner, interspersed with student performances, including a small tribute segment to outgoing SMU President Arnoud De Meyer who steps down in December.

Tribute to SMU President Arnoud De Meyer

In his remarks, SMU Chairman Ho Kwon Ping paid tribute to SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer for his eight years of leadership where he helped the University forge strong linkages, collaboration and partnerships with academia, industry, government, social organisations and the community at large. He has also led internationalisation and reputation-building efforts – particularly in China, India, Southeast Asia and Europe – which have helped SMU to build a global reputation and renown. His brainchild “SMU-X” and its overseas version, have gained a global recognition for innovative experiential learning, and are becoming an integral part of SMU’s pedagogical DNA which will distinguish SMU from other leading institutions.

Conferral of SMU Honorary Degree on Professor John Rodney Niland

In addition, Mr Ho also paid tribute to Professor John Niland – a founding member of SMU’s Board of Trustees who served as an architect of the foundations of SMU’s university administration for a good 12 years from 2000 to 2012.

He was also Deputy Chairman from 2008 to 2012, and served as Chair, Finance and Remuneration Committee (FinRem) from 2003 to 2009 where he laid a robust foundation for SMU’s finance and remuneration framework, and also introduced the practice of conducting an annual 360-degree review of the President, which to this day is followed. He also helped to document the key annual milestones in SMU’s financial and remuneration calendar that resulted in the FinRem Roadmap, which continues to guide the FinRem committee and SMU’s management.

Prof Niland also served as Deputy Chair, Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), and worked closely with the AAC Chair in helping establish an academic governance framework for SMU, which is distinguished by the very rigorous and stringent standards set for SMU, including the adoption of a tenure review process that incorporates the best practices observed in top internationally recognised institutions.

In 2006, the Board formed a governance review taskforce and appointed Prof Niland to chair the taskforce which had the mandate to conduct a thorough review of SMU’s academic governance handbook. This was a major exercise, which finally resulted in a key document - the Governance and Academic Polices Handbook - which serves to this day as SMU’s primary academic governance handbook.

For his enormous contributions to the University, SMU conferred Professor Niland with an SMU Honorary Degree at the Dinner.

Role of Universities and Making Meaning Impact on Society

In his remarks, SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer spoke about the traditional role universities played and its positive socio-economic impact on society in terms of supplying a well-educated workforce and carrying out research that would ultimately aid a higher quality of life. He added that SMU will have to reflect more on how it could enhance impact on society, and touched on how the SMU brand of being a “Different U” has been complemented to be a “University with Meaningful Impact”. He then proposed ways on how faculty, staff, students and researchers could do this together.

The grand dinner ended with a grand finale of song and dance by all performers to the tune of A Million Dreams in line with the theme for the night.

You can view the photo album of the day’s celebrations here.

[Cover photo credit: Harold Koh, SMU undergrad]

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