The highly anticipated SMU Arts Festival 2021 brought the year to a close with a month-long, multisensorial showcase themed 2GETHER AS 1.

Singapore’s higher education system may seem to have always punched above its weight for quality teaching, research and innovation. But it has achieved in a mere three or so decades what other countries have taken centuries to develop.

SMU Professor of Computer Science David Lo is honoured with IEEE Fellow, the highest grade of membership in the IEEE, for his contributions to “synergising software engineering and data mining”. IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organisation dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

Over many decades, university has been the final stop for many students before they venture into adulthood. It stands as an institution that tests and challenges those who enter, providing them with knowledge to be ready when it matters most-the real world.

In an increasingly globalised economy, expansion beyond one’s home market helps to unlock revenue potential, diversify one’s customer base and broaden the scope of investment opportunities. For multinational companies with a strong international presence, the next step to cementing their positions in global markets lies in successfully establishing regional headquarters.

It has been six years since 196 countries signed the Paris Agreement to mitigate the effects of man-made climate change, and two since Greta Thunberg delivered her powerful speech at the UN Climate Change Action Summit.

As of June 2021, the Singapore government has fully vaccinated almost half of the population in tandem with private clinics. This means the nation is on track to meet its goal of vaccinating at least 75 per cent of its 5.7million residents and citizens by October 2021.

It has been over three years since the #MeToo movement first gathered steam and threw a spotlight on gender inequality in the workplace. The rise of the pandemic, however, has impacted the momentum of the movement: This year, a report of Women in Work by PwC revealed that women’s job losses during Covid-19 outpaced that of men’s, and women also experienced a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work during the global crisis.

As any avid Facebook user might be aware, vlogger Nas Daily has recently been accused of being disrespectful of Filipino culture. He was alleged to have scammed a revered Filipino tattooist into conducting an online course featured on his website, and of being impudent during interactions with another Filipino social entrepreneur.

Going global is often part of a burgeoning business’ roadmap for scaling up. But while international expansion into new markets can deliver exponential returns, it could also unleash a plethora of complex new challenges – a scenario that is all the more heightened in the cutthroat realm of real estate.