The Singapore Management University was incorporated in January 12, 2000, and is Singapore’s first private university funded by the government. Formerly occupying Singapore's historical Bukit Timah campus, the university has recently moved into its permanent campus right in the heart of Singapore. Modeled after the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, curriculum aims to groom outstanding business leaders and creative entrepreneurs capable of excelling in a rapidly changing and dynamic world.
It 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 IT-renowned 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 customized programmes through Executive Education.
Lee Kong Chian school of Business
The Lee Kong Chian School of Business is Singapore Management University‘s business school. Started in 2000, the school was the first to be established under the Singapore Management University's charter. It is a research-driven school, with a blend of education that focuses on academic research and industrial relevance. Faculties are hired on the basis of research or on perceived expertise in their field of study or practice. The current dean is Professor Pang Eng Fong, a former ambassador.
The school was named after Lee Kong Chian after receiving a donation of SGD50 million from The Lee Foundation, a trust established by Lee and administered by Lee's children. This amount was matched by the Singapore government in a 3-to-1 ratio, thus resulting in a SGD200 million donation.
School of Economics and Social Sciences
The School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS) was established on 1 July 2002 to launch the Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree programme majoring in Economics, and subsequently the Bachelor of Social Science undergraduate degree programme majoring in Psychology, Sociology, or Political Science.
Economics and social sciences form a key factor in the development of Singapore Management University as a foremost academic institution in generating cutting-edge research with global impact and producing broad-based, creative and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy.
School of Information Systems
SIS has been created to extend SMU’s mission into the realm of business-focused information technology. The SIS education and research environment benefits from the strong partnership with Carnegie Mellon, as well as from the existing collaboration between the Wharton School and the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business.
Distinctive Characteristics of the School of Information Systems
- A focus on business process innovation and transformation through the architecture, design and delivery of enterprise information systems
- Integration of business and technology analysis in a sector context
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- A learning contract with key stakeholders (students, faculty, external partners)
- Research that links theory and practical impact
Undergraduate programme
The SIS undergraduate programme emphasizes on
- Integration of business & technology in a sector context
- IT architecture, design and development skills
- Project management skills
- Learning-to-learn skills
- Collaboration (or teams) skills
- Change management skills for enterprise systems
- Skills for working across countries, cultures and borders
- Communication skills
A distinctive feature of the SIS Undergraduate programme is the dual emphasis on the technical skills for the design and deployment of business information systems and on the business skills for analyzing value, costs and risks of design and deployment alternatives. The programme also has a strong emphasis on IT project management and will provide students with in-depth experiences with the end-to-end process of defining, designing, and deploying solutions.
