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Singapore Management University
Established	2000
Type	Private
President	Howard Hunter
Provost	Tan Chin Tiong
Faculty	155
Undergraduates	3800
Postgraduates	125
Location	Singapore, Singapore
Campus	Urban
Website	www.smu.edu.sg

The Singapore Management University (Abbreviation: SMU; Chinese: 新加坡管理大学; Malay: Universiti Pengurusan Singapura) was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and is Singapore's first private university funded by the government.

The SMU approach to preparing graduates is a focused but broad-based education, modeled after the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

SMU is home to over 3,800 students and comprises four schools offering five undergraduate degree programmes: the Lee Kong Chian School of Business; the School of Accountancy; the School of Economics and Social Sciences; and the School of Information Systems, which has a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University. The university offers master's degree programmes in Wealth Management, Applied Finance, Professional Accounting, Applied Economics and in Economics and Finance (by research). The Wealth Management degree is offered in collaboration with the Swiss Banking School and the Wealth Management Institute. The university will continue to introduce new master's programmes and there will also be development of a university-wide PhD programme. SMU also has a dedicated Office of Research and provides public and customised programmes through Executive Education.

SMU has sparked controversy in the local and regional media by establishing its position as being "different" from the local legacy universities, challenging their pedagogy, operations and strategic development. Its advertisements, which feature SMU undergraduates in various acrobatic poses, invoked debate about exactly how different and how much better SMU graduates are.

Contents 1 Location and campus 2 Faculty 2.1 Strategic goals 2.2 Shared values 3 Academics 3.1 Schools and centres 3.2 Graduate and professional programs 4 Admission 5 Graduates 6 Notes 7 External links

Formerly occupying Singapore's historical Bukit Timah campus, the university has recently moved into its permanent campus in the central part of Singapore. The $426 million, 4.5 hectare city campus is a first in Singapore.

With a completion date set at February 2007, the university would soon have its hostel in Bras Basah along Prinsep St, from the previous plans to house the hostels in Jurong East. The hostel is from refurbished Housing Development Board buildings (Block 2, 4 and 7) donated by the government. Priority will be for international students, most of whom currently live in various private hostels around the island. Located in the civic district of the city, the city-campus will support the university's eventual 6,500 undergraduates, along with students in its future graduate programmes.

SMU is headed by President Howard Hunter (JD, Yale), Provost Tan Chin Tiong, Dean Bobby Mariano (PhD, Stanford), Dean Steve Miller (PhD, Carnegie-Mellon), etc. Former presidents include Professor Ronald Frank and Professor Janice R. Bellace. Many members of the faculty hold degrees from Ivy League institutions, MIT and Stanford. Other faculty members include former Ambassador, Pang Eng Fong; poet, writer and creative thinking expert Kirpal Singh; and actress, screenwriter, Dr. Margaret Chan.

• Attract and sustain the finest faculty
• Attract outstanding students
• Identify and appoint key academic leaders
• Build external linkages and support
• Build excellent infrastructure to support mission

• Commitment to the SMU Mission
• Integrity
• Responsibility
• Collegiality
• Leadership
• Excellence

Singapore Management University has four undergraduate schools:

• Lee Kong Chian School of Business
  • Wee Kim Wee Centre
• School of Accountancy
• School of Economics and Social Sciences
• School of Information Systems
• School of Law

The university offers bachelor's degree programmes in Business Management, Accountancy, Economics, Information Systems Management and Social Science. SMU's undergraduate programme allows students to major in cross-displinary areas such as Economics, Law, Accounting, Finance, Quantitative Finance, Marketing, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Corporate Communications, Operation Management, Business Statistics & Actuarial Mathematics and Organisational Behaviour & Human Resources.

SMU's core curriculum requires students to do the following modules (regardless of their faculty) before graduating: Analytical Skills (0.5 unit), Creative Thinking (0.5 unit), Business Government and Society, Leadership and Team-building, Communications, Computer as an Analysis Tool, Technology and World Change, Business Ethics and The Finishing Touch (0.5 unit).

The following schools and centres offer graduate programs:

• Lee Kong Chian School of Business
• School of Accountancy
• School of Information Systems
• Office of Research
  • Wharton-SMU Research Center
• Office of Executive Education

The university offers master's degree programmes in Wealth Management[1], Applied Finance[2], Professional Accounting[3], Applied Economics and in Economics and Finance (by research)[4]; as well as a PhD programme in Information Systems[5].

Some of SMU's academic collaborators and industry partners for the Executive Education include University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, European Business School International University Schloss Reichartshausen and Mercer Human Resource Consulting LLC.

Over the years, admission to SMU has become more and more competitive and is based on a broad range of criteria - including A-Level results or Polytechnic results, SAT scores, a panel interview, a reflective essay, and the other qualities and achievements of an applicant. Many among the present intake are national sportsmen, musicians, young entrepreneurs and community service volunteers. 2 in 3 applicants are ‘A’ level students scoring ABB or above, and 1 in 3 scoring AAA or above.

The university received 10,680 applications for the 1,350 places for the academic year starting in Fall 2006.

The university has sparked positive responses from the Deputy Prime Minister, who encouraged the other 2 local universities to model themselves after SMU. Graduates have been acknowledged to be "confident and articulate" by several MNCs and global firms.

SMU graduates were hired in a wide spectrum of professions, including financial, accounting, consulting and services sectors, with more than 40% in banking, finance, auditing and accounting.

A large number of SMU graduates have been hired by employers such as Citigroup, McKinsey, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, Standard Chartered Bank, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, and Royal Dutch Shell as well as the public sector. In addition, Investment Banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase have hired an increasing number of SMU graduates into their front-office Investment Banking analyst positions. Other companies which have recruited SMU interns and graduates include UBS, Deutsche Bank, General Electric and Barclays Capital.

According to a Singapore Press Holdings publication, employers have endorsed SMU graduates as exceptional recruits with 100% of SMU graduates securing jobs within six months of graduation, where the top 20% earning impressive starting salaries of more than $3,800. This compares favorably with the top 20% of National University of Singapore's Business graduates earning $3,208 and the top 20% of Nanyang Technological University's Business and Accounting graduates earning $3,050.[6].

In 2007, a press release from the university indicated that the latest batch of graduates had entered full-time employment with an average of $2,850, with the top 20% earning $4,630.[7]

Singapore Management University is sometimes confused with the Singapore Institute of Management, a tertiary institution specialising in executive education courses.

Official university sites:

• SMU website
• Lee Kong Chian School of Business
• School of Accountancy
• School of Economics & Social Sciences
• School of Information Systems
• Wharton-SMU Research Center
• UOB-SMU Entrepreneurship Alliance Centre
• Perspectives of City Campus

Non-official sites:

• Article about Singapore Management University
• Funkygrad: Student write-up of SMU Overview
• Funkygrad: SMU undergraduates' review of the school