SMU, which launched a financial aid scheme in 2017 to cover the full tuition fees of its needy undergraduate students, will extend it from August 2025 to include allowances to cover students’ living expenses and overseas experiences. The university, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025, said that under the new SMU Access Plus scheme, it is also eliminating requirements such as housing type and focusing solely on per capita income and citizenship. As a result, it expects to benefit more than 3,000 students annually. Previously, only about 200 qualified for the scheme.
SMU President Professor Lily Kong said, “At SMU, we take pride in being the first university to make global exposure a graduation requirement. Experiencing the world through the lens of a university education is a transformative opportunity – one that fosters international networks, broadens horizons and opens doors to new possibilities. Such opportunities for global exposure should be accessible to every student, regardless of financial circumstance. That is why we continue to enhance the SMU Access scheme to support and enable their global experience, ensuring that no one is left behind.” She added that SMU is also the first local university to introduce both internship and community service as graduation requirements from 2000, when the university was launched. Going forward, she said, SMU will continue to innovate in both undergraduate and continuing education. She also said that in keeping with SMU’s refreshed vision and mission to be “Asia’s premier global city university”, the university will unveil courses and programmes to nurture “globally agile, Asia-ready graduates”.