Undergraduate Education

The annual SMU Arts Festival is one of the most highly anticipated events in the city's cultural calendar. This year marks a return to live performances after two online editions during Covid-19, and it was a spectacular showcase of the best SMU talents and guest artistes. Themed LOST & FOUND, the festival paid tribute to a platform lost for two years but now found, with a focus on rediscovering the joys of in-person gatherings.

On 20 May 2022, SMU announced the launch of its College of Integrative Studies (CIS), a new approach to education that cultivates deep, integrative interdisciplinarity in graduates. Students enrolled in the flagship Individualised Major will be guided through a customised major that leverages their strengths and areas of interest. This allows them to respond to the dynamic needs of industry and society.

A simulated legal argument conducted before a panel of judges, the moot court is an important part of any law student's education, and remains relevant in the modern legal practice.

From the closure of workplace premises during the Circuit Breaker and adoption of work-from-home and split teams arrangements in 2020, to 75 per cent of employees returning to the workplace in April 2021, before reverting to working from home as a default arrangement just over a month later, it’s been a rollercoaster ride for organisations and employees during the pandemic.

In recent years, diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI) have become more than mere buzzwords in business organisations. Instead, effective DEI initiatives have grown to serve as critical drivers for organisational success. In particular, the events of 2020 have propelled DEI issues to the forefront, with impactful social movements and effects of the pandemic resulting in greater proactivity in achieving true diversity and inclusion.

Last year, a group of SMU students and alumni started a ground-up initiative, the COVID-19 Taskforce for Non-Profits (now known as Thrive Social Consulting), to help future-proof non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Singapore.

Safety, social responsibility and adaptability — these are the key goals that Singapore is keeping front and centre as the coronavirus pandemic evolves, and SMU is doing its part too as we continue our efforts to prioritise the health of our students, faculty, staff and partners while fulfilling our mission as a university.

SMU is recognised twice for its groundbreaking business education, at the annual Reimagine Education Awards & Conference. Imagine guest speakers from halfway across the world delivering a classroom address – via a holographic avatar; or students taking in a lecture right at their desks during lunch – instead of fighting rush hour traffic to get to night classes every other day of the week.

For the first TY Lee Mindfulness Distinguished Lecture Series 2019, distinguished psychologist Dr Steven Hickman explored the value and practice of mindfulness and how it can help to shape a happier future. With rapid technological advancement and socio-political turmoil roiling the world today, it’s not surprising that a pervasive sense of isolation is on the rise. That probably explains why mindfulness has become the subject of increasing attention in recent years.

In July 2019, some 200 students, representing 30 nationalities and 70 universities convened in SMU’s city campus for the annual Global Summer Programme (GSP). Accepting its largest intake since its launch five years ago, GSP comprised 10 credit-bearing courses that drew upon the expertise of faculty from across SMU’s six schools.