SMU’s Industry Project-Based Experiential Learning (INDEX) programme, also referred to as SMU-X, won Gold and Silver at the prestigious international awards.

Creating sustainable cities demands large initial investments, but the benefits of these sustainable cities often take many years to materialise. This challenge was the inspiration behind the theme for the SMU City Dialogue session hosted on 18 January 2024.

The new SMU Urban Institute (UI) is dedicated to multi- and inter-disciplinary research on cities in Asia and was launched in response to trends that underscore a critical need to prioritise urban research. These include the rapid urbanisation of many Asian cities, and the need for policymakers to face increasingly complex and pressing challenges when it comes to balancing urban growth with the development of resilient and sustainable cities.

As a university, SMU has showed continued commitment to creating meaningful impact by engaging with the community and conducting research with direct societal impact. One of the most important considerations for multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore is to ensure that the diverse population lives harmoniously together – an area which overlaps with SMU Assistant Professor of Psychology Jacinth Tan’s research interests in social status and inequality.

On 16 November 2023, the SMU Office of Alumni Relations (OAR) held a gathering to appreciate and celebrate the contributions of SMU’s alumni volunteers – just one of the many ways that the University’s alumni constantly step up to give back to the SMU Community. Giving the welcome address, Ms Florence Neo, director of Alumni Relations, thanked the alumni for their contribution in time, talent, ties, and testimonials to the SMU community.

Finance plays a critical role in supporting nature and biodiversity. In fact, according to a news report by the World Economic Forum back in 2020, around US$44 trillion (about SG$58.6) of economic value generation – more than half of the world’s total GDP – was found to be moderately or highly dependent on nature. It therefore makes sense that governments, organisations, and financial institutions are increasingly recognising the need to account for nature in their strategies and capital allocation decisions.

More than 400 alumni, faculty members and current students of SMU’s School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS) gathered for a dinner to celebrate the school’s 20th anniversary. The past two decades have seen the school grow from strength to strength. It is now housed in a brand-new shared sustainable city-college block, with an alumni body of over 6,000, more than 2,300 undergraduate students and close to 700 postgraduate students, including about 130 doctoral students.

Financial services are a key sector of Singapore’s economy, contributing around 14 per cent of our GDP and employing nearly 190,000 workers. It is also a highly competitive and fluid sector – financial crises add to its volatility, while geopolitical risks and technology can create massive challenges. At the same time, every challenge can also present an opportunity – but it is critical to have good leadership for the financial sector.

Active teaching and learning are an important part of nurturing 21st century skillsets that are aligned with evolving industry demands. It is with this belief in mind that SMU organised its inaugural INDEX Symposium.

On 10 November 2023, the Business Families Institute (BFI) held its 10th anniversary conference, “From Succession Planning to Legacy Building”. This acknowledges how family businesses have both supported and benefitted from BFI’s programmes and initiatives. BFI was officially launched by SMU in March 2013 as Southeast Asia’s first regional business-family-centric institute, a few months after it was first established in response to the growing need for research and education.