STATE OF THEUNIVERSITYADDRESS 2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2009

2006

20052004

2003

1999

1997

2010

20082007

MESSAGE FROMSMU PRESIDENTProfessor Arnoud De Meyer

Welcome to the President’sState of the University Address 2015. As Singapore Management University expands and matures, there is an increasing number of developments for me to discuss in my address each year. Therefore, this year we decided to introduce this booklet to complement my talk. It presents highlights and factual updates, some of which will be discussed in my speech and some for which there will not be sufficient time.

Neither my speech nor this booklet are intended to be exhaustive accounts of the state of the University. Both are selective and edited to support the underlying themes of this year’s Address. The forthcoming Annual Report to Stakeholders 2014/15, our various email and print publications, as well as the SMU website with web stories and media coverage provide a more complete account of this dynamic institution.

Therefore, with SMU’s key news stories as a background of shared knowledge, I look forward to having more time to discuss the future of SMU with you today. After all, SMU’s impressive progress in the 15 years since it was established, has been achieved by always looking to the future and thinking several steps ahead.

This year is a milestone for Singapore as the nation salutes SG50 and for SMU as we celebrate SMU15. It is also a year in which the SMU community has looked forward with confidence and determination, and become fully engaged with making real our Vision 2025.

Celebrating SG50 and SMU157th Ho Rih Hwa Leadershipin Asia Public Lecture:PM Lee Hsien LoongOn 30 June 2015, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister (PM) of Singapore, became the seventh distinguished speaker of the Ho Rih Hwa Leadership in Asia Public Lecture Series organised by SMU. In the audience were some 3,500 diplomats, public officers, corporate representatives, as well as students and teachers from over 30 institutions. In his welcome remarks, Mr Ho Kwon Ping, SMU Chairman, spoke of the Series having been established by Mrs Ho Lien Fung with the hope that students and the public would be inspired to hear accomplished entrepreneurs, business leaders and political figures from the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, share their experiences, insights and opinions. The inaugural speaker in the series was the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. In a wide-ranging speech, PM Lee Hsien Loong said that economic, population and identity issues will become critical for Singapore in the next 10, 25 and 50 years respectively. While his speech was largely centred on the country’s domestic challenges in the years ahead, in the dialogue with PM Lee which followed his lecture, questions raised by 12 participants, mostly students, were dominated by global issues.

Patron’s Day 2015 – SMU Patron and Singapore President Tony Tan (3rd from left) and SMU Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping (3rd from right) with (left to right) SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer and former SMU Presidents Professor Janice Bellace, Professor Ronald Frank and Professor Howard Hunter with their personalised ‘Smoobie’ mascots.

50 Years of Social Issues in Singapore – a compilation of 16 essays on various topics written by 24 authors was edited by SMU Professor of Psychology David Chan, Lee Kuan Yew Fellow and Director of the Behavioural Sciences Institute. (See also Catalyst section, under School of Social Sciences.)

Singapore at 50: The Business of Nation-Building was published by the Centre for Management Practice in August. It chronicles the corporate milestones of 14 major local organisations and three industry sectors over five decades. (See also Catalyst section, under Centre for Management Practice.)

Daringly Different: The Making of the Singapore Management University details the events leading to the University’s formation and charts the first 15 years of its growth. It was written by SMU writer-in-residence Kevin YL Tan and specially commissioned by the University to mark SMU15.

Faculty members have been engaged as consultants, editors and contributors for many other commemorative publications throughout the year.

SMU Chairman Mr Ho Kwon Ping (left) moderated the dialogue session with PM Lee.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivering his lecture.

The event attracted a wide variety of people among the 3,500 members of the audience.

Members of the audience taking “wefies” with PM Lee after the lecture.

SMU-X curriculum launchedAfter three-and-a-half years of study and conceptualisation, SMU launched its new SMU-X Initiative in Academic Year (AY) 2015–16, which began in August. Key to this milestone is the introduction of a suite of new SMU-X courses following a six-month pilot.

SMU-X introduces an innovative, fresh curriculum that is multi-disciplinary and hands-on, providing unconventional, flexible spaces for 24/7 use that meet the usage patterns and behaviours of the millennial student. It encourages SMU faculty members and students to collaborate in solving complex issues.

All SMU-X courses are characterised by four principles: (i) inter-disciplinary content and activities, (ii) project-based learning via an actual problem/issue faced by an organisation, (iii) active student-mentoring by faculty and industry, and (iv) three-way learning by faculty, student and client, characterised by a tripartite sharing forum at the end of the course.

The University is introducing seven or more SMU-X courses in Term 1 of AY2015–16 (August to November 2015). To keep up with the learning behaviours of today’s youths, and having studied similar models overseas as well as conducted focus group discussions and surveys with SMU students, the University has developed prototype SMU-X spaces in its city campus. Currently, these SMU-X prototype spaces are located in the SMU Labs building as well as at the SMU Li Ka Shing Library’s Learning Commons area (open 24/7), Learning Labs, Investment Studio and HIVE.

Δ The Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) has also pilot-tested a new Capstone course called The Design of Business. The course offers a platform for SMU to partner with industry, giving undergraduates the invaluable opportunity to work with companies in seeking out opportunities for business enhancement. Students will have to develop inter-disciplinary solutions and apply what they have learnt over four years (thus ‘Capstone’) to real-life projects. They will apply design and business modelling techniques to develop new products, services and business models, by using qualitative techniques and customer-centric perspectives. It is now a graduate requirement for all LKCSB students.

Δ Another new elective, Diversity Management in Asia was also introduced by the School of Social Sciences with the Office of Global Learning’s Diversity & Inclusion initiative. The aim of the elective is to equip students with an understanding of complex diversity issues in Asia, as well as skills to engage in constructive and meaningful discussions.

Δ The revamped common curriculum will be implemented in full in this academic year, following the introduction of a few new courses last year. SMU’s common curriculum serves as a fundamental body of knowledge to broaden students’ understanding of various disciplines and issues outside their area of specialisation. While the number of modules remains at 16, the common curriculum has been refreshed to provide sharper focus, greater depth and wider range of topics, thereby enhancing SMU’s distinctiveness and preparing our students to be future-ready.

For example, students will have to take up at least one module from the Asian Studies Cluster and one from the Globalisation Studies Cluster so as

I GAME CHANGER Other curriculum developmentsto give them an appreciation of Asian historical experiences and development in tandem with global developments and issues. New to the curriculum, the Modes of Thinking Cluster draws from several disciplines to equip students with diverse thinking processes, and will include a course on Managing in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Context. The other two clusters are the Technology Studies Cluster and Entrepreneurship Cluster.

Several SMU schools are also rolling out new courses this academic year:

School of Information Systems:· Internet of Things: Technology and Applications · Data Security & Privacy

School of Economics:· Globalisation of Trade and Finance· Economic Growth

Lee Kong Chian School of Business:· Managing in a VUCA Context· Storytelling for Brands and Organisations· Media Psychology· Financial Sector Development and Bank Management · Corporate Strategy· International Corporate Governance & Strategy· Legal Environment & Employee Relations

School of Law:· Evidence, Litigation & the Criminal Process· International Financial Regulation· Foreign Investment Law in China

School of Accountancy· Intelligent Accounting Function

School of Social Sciences· Mass Media and Public Opinion Research· Nation Building in Asia· Political Sociology and Chinese Politics

Δ The President’s Incentive for Blended Learning (PIBL) Scheme supports the scholarly development of blended learning courses in SMU. This is an in-house funding scheme, in addition to the external funding support from the Ministry of Education Tertiary Education Research Fund. PIBL funds the development of electronic teaching and learning resources, the redesign of 15 weeks’ lessons, and research on the effectiveness of educational innovation in blended learning. It also funds faculty attendance at the Online Learning Consortium Conference in the US, where faculty will also present their papers at the conference. SMU’s Centre for Teaching Excellence supports the management of vendors and consultations on pedagogical matters, which includes course design, research, survey instruments, and publishing of articles, documents, case studies, conferences or journal papers.

These advances in learning have been supported by the Integrated Information Technology Services improving wireless coverage to 99% of the University campus, introducing new collaborative and peer learning solutions as well as new learning analytics tools.

Three of the prototype collaborative learning spaces at SMU Labs.

SMU Leadership SymposiumThe Office of Student Life held its inaugural SMU Leadership Symposium in December 2014. Entitled “Cornerstones of Leadership”, it was intended to equip 100 newly elected SMU student leaders with essential leadership skills, and to raise standards of financial accountability, brand awareness and safety consciousness among students and their clubs. Nominated Member of Parliament and former national sailor Dr Benedict Tan delivered the keynote address.

Global Partner UniversitiesSMU has established a network of 222 partner universities. New partners this year are the Australia National University, IE Spain, Leiden University, Sciences Po (Paris), Trinity College Dublin, and University of Cologne. SMU students now have a greater variety of summer programmes to choose from, including Imperial College London Business School, King’s College London, Pembroke College Cambridge, Peking University, and Waseda University. SMU also launched its own four-week Global Summer School this year, welcoming 87 students of diverse disciplines from 16 countries around the world, and including 14 SMU students to add to the cross-cultural diversity.

SMU LifeLessons Learning Outcomesand RubricsThe SMU LifeLessons PathFinder journal (left), introduced last year, is now distributed to all freshmen. It aims to maximise their out-of-classroom learning experiences through examples, and guided and reflective exercises. The Co-Curricular Programmes Team, which was formed in November 2014 within the Office of the Dean of Students, has been refining and developing the SMU LifeLessons Learning Outcomes and Rubrics. These extend and expand on the Ministry of Education’s 21st Century Competencies Framework and Student Outcomes. The Learning Outcomes envision the SMU graduate to be: a self-directed learner; confident leader; and a responsible global citizen.

This set of rubrics will help users (students and staff) measure the attainment level of the SMU LifeLessons Learning Outcomes. It will also serve as an assessment tool of our programmes and can be used for programme evaluation. Further to this, measuring and capturing the learning that happens through co-curricular work assists students in articulating their learning in a way that can position them favourably. One area of future development is an expanded co-curricular transcript, focused on attributes and values demonstrated, which a student can attach to his résumé or internship application.

Centre for Social Responsibility (C4SR)During 2014, 5,563 SMU students were engaged in community service endeavours, with 74.4% participating locally and 25.5% overseas. Locally, SMU students participated for the sixth consecutive year in the annual SHINE festival, organised by the National Youth Council (NYC). Three of our summer projects – starring SMU, Inspirar and Kidleidoscope – were funded by SHINE as part of the festival. We reached out to more than 1,000 children and elderly from 11 non-profit organisations through these three projects. Overseas, some 140 projects were organised across 15 countries. More than half of the group-based overseas projects were organised for the third or more consecutive years. Seventeen of these were organised for the fifth or more consecutive years. Our longest serving project, Project Namaste, returned to help their beneficiaries in Nepal for the ninth year in December 2014. Since 2000, SMU students have rendered a total of more than 2.2 million hours of community service. Our graduating cohort of 2014 contributed an average of 148 hours per person over their 4 years of study in SMU.

Participants in SMU’s inaugural Global Summer School programme.

Four C4SR projects (clockwise from top left): Nok Hook VI, Thailand; Xing Fu 4, China; Luminaire, Philippines; Inspirar, Singapore.

(Photo below) Dr Benedict Tan delivering the keynote address at the inaugural SMU Leadership Symposium. (Photos right and below) Two of the symposium workshops.

Commencement 2015SMU celebrated its 12th Commencement on 15 July, sending 2,348 graduates into the world. Among them was 45-year old Eugene Low, a Military Expert with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) who is the oldest person to graduate with a bachelor’s degree at SMU. This was SMU’s largest batch of graduates since its inception in 2000 as Singapore’s first public-funded autonomous university. Jubilant friends and family filled the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre to capacity, to witness a ceremony filled with colourful pomp and pageantry. The ceremony was officially opened by SMU Chancellor, Mr Yong Pung How. The event’s Guest of Honour, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean gave the keynote speech to the over 6000-strong crowd.

Alumni RelationsFrom this academic year, the Office of Alumni Relations (OAR) will take more focused and targeted approaches to engage alumni and students together. Connecting them will lead to a more seamless transition from students to alumni. Initiatives include: interaction events to connect alumni and students, faculty, staff and senior management with shared experiences or similar interests, such as student leaders, peer helpers, sports groups, and arts groups; industry events aimed at fostering professional networking for SMU alumni working within the same industry and undergraduates with an interest in that industry; SMU students will be carefully selected and trained to call our alumni over the phone every year – for their contact details, brief them on developments in SMU, invite them to events (Patron’s Day, class reunions, industry and interaction events), and to contribute back to the University such as through the mentoring programme. OAR will partner with the SMU Alumni Association (SMUAA) to set up an SMUAA Café at the concourse where members can meet, and interact with students, faculty, and staff. It is hoped that in the longer term, SMUAA will have its own Clubhouse for similar purposes. Class Reunions, which are currently held once every three years will be increased in frequency to once every five years.

Graduate Employment Survey 2014Graduates of SMU’s undergraduate university programmes achieved higher employment rates and higher incomes than their peers from Singapore’s two other autonomous universities, the 2014 joint survey showed. It was the third consecutive year in which the three autonomous universities – NUS, NTU and SMU – conducted a joint survey. It revealed that 91.6 per cent of SMU’s graduates from the 2014 cohort were employed within six months after completing their final examinations, with more than half the total number surveyed being offered jobs before graduation. The average gross monthly salary of SMU graduates in full-time employment was a record $3,592, since 2004 when SMU graduated its pioneer cohort. This

Diversity & Inclusion updatesSMU has continued to promote diversity and inclusion through the Office of Global Learning. More than 80 events were organised throughout the year to drive inter-cultural awareness and appreciation amongst SMU’s diverse community of international and local students, staff and faculty members. The University partnered with the Ministry of Education in organising three focus group discussions to understand and better support the needs of our international and local students. The National Integration Council supports our Diversity Leadership Development Programme, launched in January 2015, which aims to cultivate students who are (a) able to harness differences, (b) well-versed in the issues and discourses on diversity, (c) motivated to

engage with others through dialogue and conversations, and (d) empowered with skills to drive social change for a more inclusive climate. In February 2015, SMU organised and hosted the second Education for Inclusive Workspaces conference with SPD (serving people with disabilities), drawing close to 150 delegates from Singapore’s public, private and social sectors.Guest of Honour, Ms Sim Ann, Minister of State at the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Communications and Information, commended SMU for taking the lead in driving discussions within the higher education sector on building “a more caring, compassionate and inclusive society”.

(Photo top left) (left to right) SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer; SMU Chancellor Mr Yong Pung How; Guest of Honour Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Teo Chee Hean. (Photos top centre and top right) Performers and graduates celebrate. (Photo in middle row) Students taking a photo together with DPM Teo.

Inaugural graduates and faculty members of the SMU Warriors Scholarship programme. Ten ‘warriors’, who are retirees from the Singapore Armed Forces, completed various postgraduate degrees this year.

The latest Graduate Employment Survey gave the Class of 2014 reason to celebrate.

was an increase over the previous year’s average gross monthly salary of $3,455. The top 20 per cent of wage earners commanded a mean gross monthly salary of $5,441. More than one in five graduates were offered full-time employment at the organisations at which they performed their internships – a 51 per cent increase from the previous year.

In the words of Stephen Tjoa, Partner, People Performance and Culture, KPMG, “SMU students’ success is largely attributed to the University’s unique talent identification process and its holistic learning experiences.”

Postgraduate StudiesThe Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) has been ranked third in the world in the Financial Times (FT) Global Masters in Finance Post-experience Ranking 2015 for its Master of Science in Wealth Management programme. The School is the only institution in Asia and in Singapore to make it to the top five positions globally, placing just after London Business School and University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School.

LKCSB also emerged second in Asia and 2nd in the world in the FT Global Masters in Finance Pre-experience Ranking 2015 for its Master of Science in Applied Finance programme. It is again the only Singaporean institution to be ranked. According to FT, LKCSB is also the first school to feature in both the Pre-experience and Post-experience rankings, and is the highest-positioned new entrant.

The new Tsinghua-SMU Masters of Science CFO dual degree is modelled after the existing Master of Science in CFO Leadership programme at SMU. The new dual degree programme will be jointly taught by faculty from both Tsinghua and SMU. Targeting aspiring Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and senior finance executives in China who have a minimum of five years’ working experience, it aims to develop CFO talents who can be highly effective in the increasingly competitive market in China. Successful candidates will be awarded the Master of Science in CFO Leadership from SMU, with an option to pursue the Master of Business Administration degree from Tsinghua University if they pass the national exams by China’s Ministry of Education. To be completed in 24 months, the majority of the courses will be conducted in Chinese on Tsinghua’s campus. Students will be required to attend an intensive one-week study mission at SMU, and an optional study mission will be conducted in the US or Europe. SMU welcomed the inaugural intake of students for its SMU Doctor of Innovation programme. This is a practice-oriented cross-disciplinary programme that covers topics such as innovation strategy; innovation development and commercialisation; product, marketing and intellectual property strategies; finance; and growth management. The new Doctor of Business Administration is expected to induct its first intake in January 2016.

Lee Kong Chian School of Business(Master of Science in Wealth Management)

RANKED 3RD

in the Financial �m� Global M�ters inFinance 2015 P�t-�perience programme

Lee Kong Chian School of Business

RANKED

in asia by the Financial Times Global

Master of Science inApplied Finance

ND

in Finance programmes 2015

In the calendar year of 2014, postgraduate and professional programmes’ enrolment grew by 36 per cent over the previous year, rising from 571 to 777 students.

GROWTHIN 2014

777571

36

The Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) launched two PhD programmes. The PhD in Business (Strategic Management & Organisation), which welcomed its inaugural intake in August 2014,allows students to choose their research topics from a variety of sub-areas within the domains of strategic management and organisation theory, entrepreneurship, and corporate governance. With the PhD in Business (Operations Management), which took its first batch of students in August 2015, LKCSB has the full suite of PhD in Business programmes, with concentrations in Finance, Organisation Behaviour and Human Resources, Marketing, Strategic Management & Organisation as well as Operations Management, alongside the Executive PhD programme in General Management.

With this year’s cohort, over 40 PhD students have graduated from SMU programmes to date. It is anticipated that this total will have reached nearly 100 by July 2017.

Professor Pang Yang Hoong, then-Dean of the School of Accountancy, launched the new Tsinghua-SMU Masters of Science CFO dual degree programme at the Global CFO Forum in Beijing, January 2015.

Year 1 postgraduate research (PGR) students and faculty members at the PGR Kick-off Party 2014.

Business DevelopmentΔ At the Financial Training Institute, the UOB-SMU Advanced Certificate in Wealth Management and UOB-SMU Advanced Diploma in Private Banking received accreditation from the Institute of Banking & Finance (IBF), the national certification agency for financial industry competency. Candidates who successfully complete the programme will also earn IBF Industry Certification, and enjoy the prestige of industry recognition for having demonstrated professional excellence, integrity and commitment to the industry.

Δ The International Trading Institute (ITI) has teamed up with the Lee Kong Chian School of Business hosting the International Trading Concentration and in the past year, the School of Economics hosting the Maritime Economics Concentration. ITI also held the inaugural Advanced Maritime Leaders Programme in April 2015 with the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore which welcomed 13 senior government, port authority and private sector maritime leaders from around the world.

Δ The Centre for Professional Studies (CPS) secured SMU’s appointment by the Workforce Development Agency as its first university programme partner to roll out a series of competency-based Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications, or WSQ, in (i) Human Resource and in (ii) Leadership & People Management. The appointment is for a period of three years commencing April 2014 and January 2015 respectively, with total funding of more than $1.5 million. By October 2015, CPS expects to issue a total of about 1,092 Statements of Attainment, and graduate around 50 participants, who would be the first batch to successfully complete all six modules in two years.

SMU’s new Provost:Professor Lily Kong Professor Lily Kong will assume the role of Provost of SMU on 1 September 2015. Professor Kong, who was formerly Vice Provost (Academic Personnel) at NUS where she also held the Provost’s Chair Professorship, brings to SMU 24 years of solid experience as a distinguished educator, prolific researcher and senior academic leader. In her new role, Professor Kong will be the second most senior in the SMU management team, working closely with Professor De Meyer. Widely regarded as a thought leader in religion, cultural policy and creative economy, heritage and conservation, and national identity, Professor Kong will also become Singapore’s first female Provost.

She succeeds Professor Rajendra Srivastava who will step down from 31 August after leading the University as its Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs) for the last seven years. Under his leadership, SMU revised its Governance Handbook and implemented a new Merit Review framework for faculty. He reorganised the Office of Research and launched the Areas of Excellence. He was instrumental in establishing practice-oriented initiatives such as the Centre for Management Practice. Professor Srivastava will join the prestigious Indian School of Business (ISB) as Dean, effective from 1 January 2016. SMU’s EMBA programme already has an India module delivered at ISB Hyderabad and future collaborations can be expected.

School of Accountancy’s new Dean:Professor Cheng QiangSMU Professor of Accounting Cheng Qiang became Dean of the SMU School of Acountancy (SOA) on 1 July 2015. Professor Cheng joined SMU in 2011 and, as the Associate Dean for Research, he was instrumental in propelling the school’s research and thought leadership ranking to #1 in Asia and #7 in the world. He sits on the editorial board of the prestigious journal, The Accounting Review, and serves on the Research Committee of the American Accounting Association. His strength in research is evident from the number of high-quality papers he has published in top-tier refereed journals.

Professor Cheng succeeds Professor Pang Yang Hoong, the founding Dean of SOA whose exceptional leadership in the last 14 years brought recognition to SoA as a school which has made important contributions to the tertiary and business landscape in Singapore and beyond, and established SMU as the premiere institution for the study of accountancy. Professor Pang has agreed to take on a new role as Vice Provost (Undergraduate Matters and Student Development) and oversee the Offices of Undergraduate Admissions, Registrar, and all units under the Office of the Dean of Students, as well as the Centres for Teaching Excellence and

English Communication.

Lee Kong Chian School of Business’s new Dean: Professor Gerard GeorgeProfessor Gerard George became Dean of the SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business on 1 January 2015. A Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Professor George was formerly Deputy Dean of Imperial College Business School and the Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre. An award-winning teacher and researcher, Professor George has written two books on entrepreneurship and published several articles in leading scholarly journals. Before joining Imperial College London, Professor George held tenured positions at the London Business School, where he served as Faculty Director of the Institute of Technology, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he directed the Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship programme.

Professor George succeeds Professor Howard Thomas, who served as Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business for five years. Professor Thomas laid a firm foundation which the School’s new leadership can build upon and he continues at SMU as a Distinguished Professor of Strategic Management and Management Education, supporting the University in many of our growing activities in Singapore and the region.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT CHANGES: ACADEMIC

GLOBAL LEADER ASSESSMENT CENTER

DIRECTED BY DR. MANSOUR JAVIDAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

NAJAFI GLOBAL MINDSET INSTITUTE AND GARVIN DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR

GLOBAL MINDSET

A UNIQUE, WORLD-CLASS ASSESSMENT CENTER FOR GLOBAL LEADERSHIP SUCCESS

N A J A F I G L O B A L M I N D S E T I N S T I T U T E

THE PREEMINENT SOURCE FOR THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

IMPACT REPORTJULY 2014

Executive DevelopmentSMU’s Office of Executive Development (ExD) last year delivered to 270 new client companies, trained 2,428 executives, and launched 14 successful open-enrolment programmes. The open-enrolment programmes included the Global Manufacturing Network and Supply Chain Management programme, in partnership with the University of Cambridge; the Future-Ready Forum which welcomed more than 100 participants from across a wide range of industries; and Asia Leaders Programme in Infrastructure Excellence (ALPINE) programme, supported by Singapore’s Economic Development Board.

ExD signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Thunderbird-Najafi Global Mindset Institute to become the Institute’s first full partner outside of the United States to offer its best-in-class executive assessment, training, and accreditation services across Southeast Asia.

Over the past year, ExD delivered tailor-made programmes for clients such as BNP Paribas, Mondelez, Sumitomo Chemical, EY, HP, Unilab, Randstrad, IPOS Singapore, Aggreko, and Singapore Power. It also signed a three-year deal with Singapore’s Sembcorp to deliver executive development programmes across three different levels of the organisation through 2017.

Last of all, in 2014 ExD has drawn upon the resources of more than 70 SMU faculty members and that number is expected to grow in 2015.

(Photo at top) SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer and Workforce Development Agency Chief Executive Mr Ng Cher Pong after signing the Memorandum of Understanding. (Photo at middle) Stephen Wyatt, Executive Director of SMU Executive Development, addressing the Future-Ready Forum.

l CATALYST

Cutting-Edge Research SMU’s Schools, Institutes, Centres, Labs andInitiatives (ICLIs) and the Office of Research (ORe) have rallied in support of SMU’s vision to be a premier institution that is internationally recognised for leading-edge research with global impact. Participation in external research grant applications increased markedly amongst the Schools and a record sum of $42.5m of research grants was secured, charting a twelvefold increase from $3.4m in FY13. Likewise, the amount of external grants awarded to existing ICLIs rose from $4.1m in

FY13 to $11.1m in FY14. SMU also secured $3.4m of research-related gifts and donations in FY14. As a result of these achievements, SMU’s research income for FY14 reached an unprecedented sum of $57m. Most notably, there was a diversification of funding sources beyond Ministry of Education (MOE) Academic Research Funding (AcRF) to other public sector agencies and industry partners such as the National Research Foundation (NRF), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and Fujitsu Limited.

The Li Ka Shing Library’s InK (SMU’s Institutional Knowledge repository for research publications) now includes over 4,000 full-text papers available globally. Since its inception, over 786,000 downloads have been recorded from the full-text papers in InK.

Professor Melvyn Teo Associate Professor Archan Misra

Associate Professor Jeffrey Ng

Asst Professor Tang Yuehua

Assistant Professor Richard Davis

Associate Professor Gary Pan

Associate Professor Wan Wai Yee

Assistant Professor Lee Youngki

Associate Professor Lim Chu Yeong

Assistant ProfessorChristopher Chen Chao-hung

Assistant Professor Kevin Ow Yong

Assistant Professor Zhang Wei

Research Grants and CentresSMU has fared well in the AcRF Tier 2 competitive research programme. The number of applications rose from 10 in FY13 to 13 in FY14.

Results for the second grant call launched in FY13 were released in August 2014. Lee Kong Chian School of Business Professor Melvyn Teo and Assistant Professor Tang Yuehua secured a grant award for their project on alpha generation in the context of hedge fund and private equity industries. School of Information Systems Associate Professor Archan Misra, together with Assistant Professors Richard Davis and Lee Youngki, received funding for their study on wearable computing technologies.

SMU also secured an MOE Tier 2 grant in each of the two grant calls launched in FY14. In February 2015, School of Accountancy Associate Professor Jeffrey Ng, along with his colleagues Associate Professors Gary Pan, Lim Chu Yeong, and Assistant Professor Kevin Ow Yong, were awarded a Tier 2 grant for their research on the production, delivery and processing of fair value information. Earlier this month, School of Law Associate Professor Wan Wai Yee, together with her colleagues Assistant Professors Christopher Chen and Zhang Wei, were awarded a Tier 2 grant for their research on legal transplantation of corporate and securities laws in Singapore and Hong Kong.

School of AccountancyThe new Dean at the School of Accountancy, Professor Cheng Qiang, working with another senior researcher Professor Chen Xia is about to publish a paper in The Accounting Review in September titled “CEO contractual protection and managerial short-termism”. The paper shows that firms with CEO contractual protection such as CEO employment agreements and severance pay agreements are less likely to cut R&D expenditures to avoid earnings decreases and are less likely to change production decisions to meet earnings targets. The evidence suggests that CEO contracts can be designed to help expand managers’ horizons and address the agency problem of managerial short-termism.

In another forthcoming paper in the same journal, titled “Economic freedom, investment flexibility, and equity value: A cross-country study”, Associate Professor Chen Chih-Ying shows that greater economic freedom in a country enhances equity value through more efficient management of investment options. Associate Professor Chen, examining the data from 30 countries from 2000 to 2010, found that in countries with greater economic freedom, (1) a firm’s capital investment

Lee Kong ChianSchool of BusinessResearch conducted by Professor Melvyn Teo, Associate Dean (Research) and Programme Director of Postgraduate Research – together with faculty members from the University of Florida – was profiled on CNN Money and in the Wall Street Journal in 2015. Titled “Limited attention, marital events and hedge funds”, it explored the performance of hedge fund managers who are distracted by personal events such as marriage

in response to profitability is greater; (2) the relations of equity value with earnings and equity book value are more convex; and (3) the relation between stock return and profitability change is more convex.

The School is currently ranked 1st in Asia and 8th worldwide in Archival Accounting Research (All Topics), as well as 7th in the world for Financial Archival Accounting Research in the Brigham Young University’s Accounting Research rankings (as at April 2014).

and divorce. It found that marriages and divorces are associated with significantly lower fund alpha, during the six-month period surrounding the event and for up to two years after the event. Relative to the pre-event window, fund alpha falls by an annualised 8.50 per cent during a marriage and 7.39 per cent during a divorce.

A paper published by Associate Professor Roy Chua, titled “The costs of ambient cultural disharmony: indirect intercultural conflicts in social environment undermine creativity”, received the Best Article Award by the Academy of Management Journal in August 2014. Its findings have theoretical and practical implications for research in workplace diversity and creativity. The article introduced the concept of ambient cultural disharmony—indirect experience of intercultural tensions and conflicts in individuals’ immediate social environment. Three studies (a network survey and two experiments) showed that ambient cultural disharmony decreased individuals’ effectiveness at connecting ideas from disparate cultures. However, although ambient cultural disharmony disrupted creativity, ambient cultural harmony did not promote creativity.

The School was ranked 4th in Asia and 58th globally in the University of Texas at Dallas Worldwide Business School Ranking based on 2010–2014 research contributions.

School of EconomicsThe International Economic Review will shortly publish a pair of related papers jointly authored by Professor Yu Jun, Distinguished Term Professor Peter Phillips and Shi Shu-Ping, a former graduate student supervised by Professor Yu Jun. Recent work on econometric detection mechanisms has shown the effectiveness of recursive procedures in identifying and dating financial bubbles. These procedures are useful as warning alerts in surveillance strategies conducted by central banks and government regulators with real-time data. Use of these methods over long periods presents a more serious econometric challenge due to the complexity of the non-linear structure and break mechanisms that are inherent in multiple bubbles phenomena within the same sample period. These two related papers develop the methodology to deal rigorously with long historical time series.

Also forthcoming, in the Journal of Econometrics, is a paper co-authored by Professor Tse Yiu Kuen and Liu Shouwei, a PhD student whom he supervised. The recent rapid increase in high-frequency trading activities has highlighted the need for financial institutions’ decision makers, such as traders and heads of desks, to have real-time

School of Information SystemsAt the DHL-SMU Green Transformation Lab, its Academic Director Assistant Professor Tan Kar Way together with our partner from DHL overhauled the existing DHL’s Carbon Dashboard, which is an online tool that measures carbon emissions along a manufacturer’s supply chain and relates it to other supply chain management parameters. The team not only gave the application a more user-friendly interface, but

access to market information in order to make rapid and well-informed decisions. However, at present, the majority of banks are relying on risk information on a daily basis. This paper, titled “Intraday Value-at-Risk: An Asymmetric Autoregressive Conditional Duration Approach”, proposes a method to compute intraday value-at-risk using real-time high-frequency transaction data.

Based on research contribution in 2008–2012, SMU’s School of Economics was ranked 1st in Asia by the Tilburg University Top 100 Worldwide Economics Schools Research Ranking; in the field of Econometrics, it was ranked 4th in the world.

also added new analytical features to pinpoint graphically and exactly where fuel was used and how emissions were generated. The revamped application is now being used by DHL and several of its partners.

A research team at the Living Analytics Research Centre led by Professor Lau Hoong Chuin has developed a dynamic route planning mobile phone application for theme park visitors. Operating like a global positioning system device in a car, this app will provide each user with a personalised itinerary based on their preferences, as well as dynamic information such as weather, predicted queue wait-times, show times and ride status. What’s even more interesting is that the same app, when installed in a large enough number of visitors’ mobile devices, can be used by the operator as a dynamic crowd management mechanism, to divert visitors to different attractions to manage congestion.

School of LawTwo books published this year and involving faculty members from the School of Law give a timely review of the development of Singapore’s legal system, as the nation celebrates its 50th year of independence.

Associate Professor Goh Yihan is a co-general editor of Singapore Law: 50 Years in the Making, and Professor Goh, Assistant Professor Chen Siyuan and Assistant Professor Yip Man contributed chapters. Written with a grant from the Singapore Academy of Law, it is an empirical study of all reported decisions from 1965 to 2013 and paints the growth of the Singapore legal system and Singapore law in the past 50 Years. Attorney General VK Rajah and Justice Andrew Phang have contributed forewords and the book will be launched by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon in August 2015.

Several of the School’s faculty members contributed chapters to The Legal System of Singapore: Institutions, Principles and Practices, co-edited by Associate Professor Gary Chan and Assistant Professor Jack Tsen-Ta Lee. Over the decades, the legal system in Singapore

School of Social SciencesSMU Professor of Psychology David Chan, Lee Kuan Yew Fellow and Director of the Behavioural Sciences Institute, was the editor of the book 50 Years of Social Issues in Singapore, launched on 30 April 2015, with Education Minister Heng Swee Keat as the Guest of Honour. The Foreword was written by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Consisting of 16 chapters authored by 24 experts, this book examined various social issues in Singapore. People Matter, a compilation of 21 essays written by Professor Chan which were first published in The Straits Times, was also launched at the same event. The book was endorsed by 38

has evolved in a manner that draws from its Westminster heritage but also meets changing needs and aspirations. The chapters of this book can be grouped broadly under the headings ‘institutions’, ‘principles’ and ‘practices’. It is the most up-to-date Singapore legal system book around, written with students in mind and those who require a quick grounding in the legal system in Singapore.

leaders in the Cabinet, academia, and the public, private and people sectors.

Professor Hiro Saito strengthened his reputation as a leading expert on cosmopolitanism with four publications on the topic this year, including one in the British Journal of Sociology. In these papers, Professor Saito argues that today’s most urgent social problems – for example, climate change, and economic crises – are fundamentally global, challenging the existing institutions and practices that are still anchored in nation-states. Professor Saito focuses on cosmopolitanism as a new logic of ethics, politics, and knowledge production in a global world and critically examines its potentials and limitations in confronting global social problems.

Δ The SMU-TCS iCity Lab (iCity Lab), an SMU and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) joint venture focused on research and development of intelligent city solutions, secured a research grant from the Ministry of National Development and NRF in September 2014 to develop technology solutions tailored to the needs of senior citizens in Singapore. The iCity Lab was established in August 2011 within the School of Information Systems as a three-year research collaboration between SMU and TCS for research related to intelligent cities. The Lab achieved its major research objectives and accomplished several flagship projects across the intelligent city domain; therefore, SMU and TCS agreed to continue the partnership for another three years.

Δ SMU, Fujitsu Limited and A*STAR announced in October 2014 a joint investment of S$54 million over five years to set up a centre of excellence for sustainable urbanisation to establish the Fujitsu-SMU Urban Computing and Engineering (UNiCEN) Corp. Lab. The objective is to harness high-performance computing capabilities to develop solutions for sustainable urban operations such as crowd mobility and transport engineering and management, with researchers using Singapore as a “living lab” to test-bed next generation solutions to real urban issues, and creating new business areas in this field.

Δ SMU’s new Secure Mobile Centre is a new research and development (R&D) centre focusing on improving the security of mobile computing applications, mobile computing platforms, and end-to-end mobile services delivery. This is a four-year initiative under the National Research

Δ The Centre for Research on the Economics of Ageing (CREA) was established in July 2014 under a $10 million MOE AcRF Tier 3 grant to study how well-prepared Singaporeans are for coping with the demands and risks associated with ageing. Research will focus on health, housing and pensions, and will include assessment of policy options for improving retirement readiness. The Centre started its enrolment of the Singapore Life Panel in May 2015 following two pilot surveys that were conducted between December 2014 and March 2015. The target was to enrol 10,000 distinct households that include at least one person aged between 50 and 70 (Singaporeans and PRs) to participate in monthly surveys on their income, expenditure, health, work and housing choices. It is expected to be the largest population-representative monthly survey conducted in the world. So far 15,000 individuals in more than 11,000 households have enrolled and completed the baseline survey. Meetings have been held with a number of government agencies to discuss the survey scope and methodology and how these can be of benefit in addressing specific issues of interest. The rich information obtained from the Singapore Life Panel will help shape policies that will enhance the financial well-being of Singapore’s ageing population.

Foundation’s (NRF) National Cybersecurity R&D Programme, and funded by NRF and other collaborating Singapore government agencies.

The Centre, led by a team of five School of Information Systems faculty members, will conduct R&D projects on mobility, connectivity, and extensibility. The Centre is partnering with ST Electronics (Info-Security) Pte Ltd, Gemalto Pte Ltd, StarHub, and McAfee Singapore which is part of Intel Security, to conduct trials of the R&D projects in secure mobile computing. The Centre is also collaborating with Singapore government agencies to bridge research outcomes with practical needs. In addition, SMU will work with international organisations such as INTERPOL to jointly develop knowledge and expertise in secure mobile computing.

(Left to right) Mr Suresh Sachi, Deputy Managing Director of A*STAR, Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of A*STAR, Mr Tango Matsumoto, Corporate Executive Officer, EVP, and Head of Global Marketing of Fujitsu Limited, and Professor Arnoud De Meyer, President of SMU at the signing ceremony to establish UNiCEN.

Δ SMU won first place in two categories of the 2014 EFMD Case Writing Competition, organised by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). It is one of the first and biggest wins ever by a Singapore educational institution in this worldwide case writing competition. The winning cases were co-authored by a combination of case writers from the Case Writing Initiative (CWI) driven by the SMU Centre for Management Practice (CMP), as well as faculty members.

CMP has now written about 145 case studies,and received over 20,000 downloads fromover 100 universities across the world. It hasrun 20 case-writing and case-teaching workshops, both in Singapore and overseas. The third issue of its Asian Management Insights was published in May and a commemorative book, Singapore at 50: The Business of Nation-Building, was officially launched in August.

Δ The iCity Lab SHINESeniors (Smart Homes and Intelligent Neighbours to Enable Seniors) Project, is an effort to make community care services effective through innovations in care delivery by leveraging Information and Communications Technology. Sensor-enabled homes will be developed in support of ageing-in-place for senior citizens living in Singapore.

Δ In collaboration with the Tax Academy of Singapore, and with the support of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), the SMU-TA Centre for Excellence in Taxation (SMU-TA CET) was launched on 5 August 2014. Helmed by Professor (Practice) Sum Yee Loong, the SMU-TA CET aims to produce highly robust research in international and regional tax issues for policy development and engagement of the international tax community.

Δ The Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSIG) was conducted by the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU (ISES) for the ninth year in a row during 2015 and it remains the only objective and independent, cross-industry benchmark of Singapore’s service competitiveness. The Institute is also working on myCSIG, a new online tool to be launched in 2016 which will bring the analytics engine that powers the CSIG into the hands of small and medium enterprises, giving them the ability to benefit from the benchmarking and analytics of a proven and widely adopted customer satisfaction model. In May 2015, Singapore Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong presented the Singapore Service Medallions – first established by ISES in 2011 with partner government agencies as part of the “Go the Extra Mile for Service” initiative.

Δ SMU launched the new Applied Research Centre for Intellectual Assets and the Law in Asia (ARCIALA) on 25 May 2015. Helming the new Centre as its Director is SMU Professor of Law Liu Kung-Chung; the Centre’s Deputy Director is SMU Professor of Law Irene Calboli. Set to be the first intellectual property (IP) research centre in the region with a multi-disciplinary and Asian emphasis, ARCIALA will conduct applied research on developments in the IP scene in Asia and beyond. It will engage in research projects in areas of practical importance, as well as promote interest, research and cooperation in intellectual assets and the law in Asian economies.

Δ SMU’s Business Family Institute, or BFI@SMU, has partnered with Deloitte Southeast Asia (Deloitte) in a research paper titled ‘Asian Business Families Governance: Crossing the Chasm for Inter-Generational Change’, conducted by BFI@SMU between December 2014 and April 2015. The survey showed that Asian business families are in the early stages of family governance development and adoption, but are committed to building family and business sustainability. This survey research is part of a three-year Business Families Research Programme (starting from Academic Year 2014) made possible by a second research grant from Deloitte to BFI@SMU, which was announced in September 2014. The first research grant from Deloitte had previously funded BFI@SMU’s inaugural survey in 2013, which focused on Asian Business Families Succession.

At the launch of SMU-TA CET, SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, Professor of Accounting Sum Yee Loong and CEO of the Tax Academy of Singapore, Mrs Eng-Tay Geok Lee.

The inaugural Director of ARCIALA, SMU Professor of LawLiu Kung-Chung.

Δ The Lien Centre for Social Innovation (LCSI) launched A Handbook on Inequality, Poverty and Unmet Social Needs in Singapore in March 2015. It provides an overview of the literature, key debates and social policy covering poverty, inequality and unmet social needs in Singapore. It was very well received and, following coverage in the Straits Times, several schools and institutions requested for copies. SMU Change Lab was formed to support LCSI’s community-engaged model for applied research, with collaboration as its pivot. It is an action-oriented research and design programme within the LCSI that investigates and responds to unmet social needs in Singapore. The Lab recently published three action-research projects – social isolation of the elderly, employment and caregiving needs of people with disabilities and challenges faced by single-parent families in Singapore.

Δ SMU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore on 25 November 2014 to promote research and innovation for a clean and green next generation port. This outlined areas for R&D collaboration, namely clean energy and environment, energy management, simulation and data analytics for maritime applications that support Singapore’s position as an efficient, green and sustainable port. It also covered partnerships in education, public outreach programmes, as well as the provision of advisory services by SMU.

Δ Jointly established by SMU and Carnegie Mellon University in 2011 with a $26m grant awarded by NRF, the Living Analytics Research Centre (LARC) has made significant headway in developing new methods for data, decision and mobile analytics to generate valuable business, consumer and social insights. The centre has also published over 140 papers, many of which appeared in top-tier journals and international conferences of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), for example. As a testament to its translational research capabilities, LARC has gone on to secure follow-on funding from renowned industry partners such as PS Solutions Corp (a subsidiary of SoftBank) and NEC Asia Pacific / NEC Laboratories Singapore. All these achievements have helped to cement its reputation as a centre of research excellence.

(From left) Professor Steven Miller, Vice Provost (Research) and Dean of SMU School of Information Systems, and Mr Andrew Tan, Chief Executive of Maritime and Port Authorityof Singapore, signing the MOU.

Lee Kuan Yew Fellowship for Research ExcellenceFounded in 2001, the award is given annually to outstanding SMU faculty based on their research performance in the previous year. Nominees are evaluated based on the originality of projects, research track records, importance of research findings, multidisciplinary nature of projects, ability to attract the interest and collaboration of faculty from world-class universities, and potential for publication in top-tier journals and books.

Teaching Awards 2015

Teaching Awards 2014

Sing Lun FellowshipEstablished in 2009 by Mr Patrick Lee, Chairman of Sing Lun Investment Pte Ltd, the award is given annually to support junior faculty members who have demonstrated the ability to conduct academic and industry-relevant research on business issues in Asia. Nominees are evaluated based on the originality and multidisciplinary nature of projects, research significance, potential to attract the collaborative interest of internationally recognised researchers, and publication in prominent journals and books.

Della Suantio Fellow & DS Lee Foundation FellowEstablished in 2012 by Dr Della Suantio Lee and the DS Lee Foundation, the award is given to support junior faculty members in conducting academic and industry-relevant research, and their participation in international research programmes that are crucial to improving the understanding of Asian businesses.

Celia Moh Professorial ChairThe Celia Moh Professorial Chair was established in the year 2000 by the late Mr Laurence Moh, former Chairman of Plantation Timber Products, in honour of his wife Celia Moh to commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary. The purpose of this award is to promote and recognise the outstanding work of a female faculty member in SMU. For her outstanding work in the past year, Professor Phang will retain the Celia Moh Professorial Chair for 2015.

RESEARCH EXCELLENCEAWARDS (2015)

Professor Chen Xia,School of Accountancy

Assistant ProfessorSerena Wee,School of Social Sciences

Assistant ProfessorJacob Ricks,School of Social SciencesDella Suantio Fellow

Associate ProfessorWan Wai Yee,School of Law

Assistant ProfessorHsu Wen-Tai,School of Economics

Assistant ProfessorZhu Feida,School of Information SystemsDS Lee Foundation Fellow

Other faculty achievementsSchool of Accountancy faculty Dr Seow Poh Sun and Ms Wong Suay Peng have been awarded the prestigious Innovation in Accounting Education Award by the American Accounting Association. They are believed to be the first faculty members in Asia to have received the award.

Associate ProfessorSeow Poh Sun,School of Accountancy

Senior LecturerWong Suay Peng,School of Accountancy

ProfessorProfessor Phang Sock Yong,School of Economics

LIST OF NOMINEES

Excellent Teacher

Mark Chong (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Seshan Ramaswami (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Gary Pan (School of Accountancy)Chow Hwee Kwan (School of Economics)Kyriakos Mouratidis (School of Information Systems)Tan Seow Hon (School of Law)Christie Napa Scollon (School of Social Sciences)

Excellent Teacher:

Seow Poh Sun (School of Accountancy)

Innovative Teacher:

Gary Chan Kok Yew (School of Law)

Most Promising Teachers:

Geng Xuesong (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Tee Chyng Wen (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)

Outstanding Adjunct:

Tan Boon Heng (School of Law), District Judge, State Courts of Singapore

Innovative Teacher

Thomas Menkhoff (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Seow Poh Sun (School of Accountancy)Yip Man (School of Law)William Tov (School of Social Sciences)

Most Promising Teacher

Kenneth Tai (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Holly Yang (School of Accountancy)Li Jing (School of Economics)Hady Wirawan Lauw (School of Information Systems)Alvin See Wei-Liang (School of Law)Jacob Ricks (School of Social Sciences)

Outstanding Adjunct

Daisy Teh (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Koh Zhixiu, Sean (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Wong Fot Chyi (School of Economics)Wong Yuet Nan (School of Information Systems)Elgin Tay (School of Law)Yoko Morikawa (School of Social Sciences)Chong Yin Teng (Centre for English Communication)

Centre for Management Practice and the Postgraduate Professional Programmes Teaching Excellence Awards

Best Assistant / Associate Professor of Practice:

Gregor Halff (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Michelle Cheong (School of Information Systems)

Provost Award for Management Practice:

Sum Yee Loong (School of Accountancy)

Teaching Excellence in Postgraduate Professional Programmes: Ang Ser-Keng (Lee Kong Chian School of Business)Andrew Lee (School of Accountancy)

Teaching Excellence in Executive Development:

Augustine Tan (School of Economics)

l GLOBAL EXEMPLARSMU on the Global StageSMU’s new International Office now oversees both the China Initiative and India Initiative, whose activities over the past year have helped to raise SMU’s global profile as a leading Asian city university.

Keynote speaker Professor Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, National Institution for Transforming India Aayog, India, exchanging his views with the audience at the Singapore-India Business Dialogue. Beside him is Professor Rajendra Srivastava, then-SMU Provost and Deputy President, who moderated the question-and-answer session.

Professor Srivastava presenting a token of appreciation to Mr Jiang Haishan, Vice President of China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong.

The roundtable discussion, chaired by Professor James Tang, SMU Special Advisor to President (China Initiatives) and Dean of SMU School of Social Sciences (left). Professor Rajendra Srivastava, then-SMU Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs), was a participant (middle).

SMU President, Professor Arnoud De Meyer, delivering his address during the inaugural session at the Panel Discussions and Interactive Session in New Delhi on 18 May 2015 for the India study mission.India Initiatives

SMU and London Business School (LBS) co-hosted a workshop on “Innovation in Skills Development” in Mumbai, India, on 21 and 22 February 2015, in partnership with the University of Southern California, London School of Economics and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Following closely after India’s 2015 budget announcements, the “Indian Union Budget 2015” seminar was held on 3 March 2015 at SMU. The seminar was organised jointly by SMU’s India Initiatives and MintAsia, in association with Singapore Airlines and Silkair, and in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry The distinguished speakers hailed from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India Ministry of Finance, and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, DBS Bank and JP Morgan, besides partnering organisations.

On 12 and 13 March 2015, the inaugural Asian Management Conclave (AMC) 2015 was held at SMU. Themed “Management Education in Asia: Strategies to Leapfrog”, it deliberated on the future of Asian business schools, and strategies to help Asian management education to excel further and compete globally. Jointly organised by SMU and management education think-tank MBAUniverse.com, AMC 2015 featured presentations and discussions by Asian business schools’ Presidents and Deans from 15 Asian economies, global education thought leaders from the United States and Europe, and corporate executives based in Asia.

Marking SMU’s 15th anniversary, Singapore’s 50 years of independence, as well as 50 years of India-Singapore bilateral relations this year, the visit to New Delhi and Mumbai was aimed at understanding the impact and implications for SMU, how the University could forge closer ties with various stakeholders in India, and explore more meaningful collaborations between Singapore and India.

China InitiativesThe SMU-Southwest University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) Global Forum on Managing Economic Transitions was held in October 2014 in Chengdu. Keynote speakers included Professor Liu Hongyu, Chairman of Specialist Committee of Housing Policy (Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development), Associate Dean of School of Civil Engineering and Director of the Institute of Real Estate Studies, Tsinghua University, and; Dr. Robert Yap, Chairman & CEO of YCH Group, President of Singapore National Employers Federation.

For the second SMU China Forum on “Next Phase of Economic Reform: New Normal” at SMU in November 2014, the keynote speakers included leading academics from Peking University and Fudan University.

The first international Xinhuanet Global Thinkers Forum was held at SMU in January 2015. Xinhuanet is a leading Chinese media organisation. Key speakers included the President of Xinhuanet News Agency Singapore, President of Bank of China Singapore Branch, Director of East Asian Institute and Professor De Meyer.

The Global CFO Forum in Beijing on 25 January 2014, co-organised by SMU and the Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management and sponsored by IBM China, was attended by some 400 CFOs and Finance Executives from China. Keynote speakers from China’s Ministry of Finance, multinational companes, state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned companies

Two months later, the SMU India Club was honoured to have Her Excellency Ms Vijay Thakur Singh, India’s High Commissioner to Singapore, share her insights at an invitation-only dialogue session on “India’s Economic Outlook” on 5 May 2015.

SMU hosted the Third Singapore-India Business Dialogue on 9 July 2015 themed “Business Model Innovation and Acceleration”, which was attended by 200 guests from the business, government and education sectors. The event’s keynote speaker was eminent economist Professor Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, India, who delivered an address on “The Changing Economic Landscape in India”. It was Professor Panagariya’s maiden official visit to Singapore following his appointment by India’s Prime Minister Modi on NITI Aayog in January

2015. The panel, comprising senior executives from Apex Avalon, DBS Bank, Electrolux, Global Business Integrators, McKinsey, Shell and Tata Sons, discussed how the government and corporate sectors can invent new business models and accelerate growth.

In May, SMU embarked on the largest study mission to India in its 15-year history. Led by President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, and Provost and Deputy President Professor Rajendra Srivastava, some 27 key members representing SMU management, all six schools and various offices were part of SMU’s delegation. Themed “Transformation in and Priorities for India”, the highly-diverse six-day programme deepened insights on India for the participants, with more than 25 Indian organisations from diverse sectors engaging the delegation.

shared their views on the strategic role of financial management in the fast-changing economy.

In April 2015, the second SMU-Fudan Global Forum was held in Shanghai. Keynote speakers included several experts involved in the study and administration of free trade zones in China.

Also in Shanghai in the same month, the SMU-CELAP Joint Seminar for Chinese mayors and vice-mayors was held at the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP). CELAP is a top central government academy for high-potential government officials.

SMU’s projects in Western China were highlighted at the Singapore-Sichuan Trade & Investment Council chaired by Singapore Minister Lawrence Wong and Sichuan Province Vice Governor Mr Gan Lin.

Campus-community integrationSMU GROW is a University-wide programme that engages students, staff and faculty in cultivating change through experiential and reflexive learning. This programme joins a global urban farming movement that seeks to (a) create global awareness on environmentalism, food production, consumption and security, (b) promote sustainable urban living, and (c) provide for underprivileged members in our community. Launched by Denise Phua, Mayor, Central Singapore Community Development Council (CSCDC), this initiative has brought together businesses and neighbouring members of the community. SMU has organised several workshops, showcased harvests and held food-sampling and farmers’ market events from this initiative since its official launch in January 2015.

SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer and Mayor for Central Singapore District Denise Phua joined hands in planting the symbolic nutmeg sapling and GROW initiative firmly in the ground.

Mayor Denise Phua, joined by SMU President Professor Arnoud De Meyer, aiming for a great start to the partnership and kicking off the three-year partnership shooting for sustainable activities that benefit students and the community mutually in the long run.

Professor Lord David Alton at the inaugural Annual Wee Kim Wee Distinguished Lecture on Educational Leadership.

(Left to right) Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir from Malaysia and Ms Claire Chang at a past Shirin Fozdar Programme’s annual Women in the Community event.

Campus Development ProjectSMU has embarked on a two-year development project that will not only add new and much-needed additional learning, teaching and group study spaces to its current campus in the city, but also transform the landscape of the Civic District by injecting energy, zing and activities to the SMU Campus Green, with a vision to bring back the buzz and revive the ‘Bras Basah spirit’. The project will enhance the opportunities for SMU to engage with the community, and showcase the talent and vibrancy of the SMU campus and Singapore’s youth.

Key features to be added to the SMU city campus include new seminar rooms; group study spaces; a centralised Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) space; an expanded, three-storey Fitness Centre; and a new Amphitheatre on Campus Green that will be a focal point of student and community-engagement activities. Altogether, these facilities add a total seating capacity of 1,185. The University is also exploring the feasibility of a jogging route on its campus grounds.

The Annual Wee Kim Wee Distinguished Lecture Series on Educational Leadership was inaugurated on 30 March 2015 by Professor Lord David Alton of Liverpool, a former member of the UK House of Commons and an independent member of the UK’s House of Lords since 1997. His lecture, titled “Education for Citizenship”, addressed the exercising of rights and responsibilities within communities at local, national and global levels. Another initiative by the Wee Kim Wee Centre (WKWC) is the Public Understanding series of lectures, which re-launched with Understanding Faith in Art and Architecture in November 2014.

In February, SMU and CSCDC officially announced a long-term collaborative effort which will see SMU student groups and CCAs work with beneficiaries and the community from CSCDC to organise a series of student-driven events targeted at youths and the larger community. So far, 11 collaborative projects, spanning the areas of sports, arts and community service have been selected to be rolled out within the next couple of years. In the first collaboration, the Free Kicks Programme, students from SMU Soccer trained, coached and mentored youths-at–risk at soccer practices before teams competed in the Free Kicks Challenge 2015, an annual soccer tournament organised by SMU Soccer and CSCDC for youths.

As part of ongoing efforts to build on the integration of the SMU campus in the local community, SMU was host to the Singapore Writers Festival, American Writers Festival and Singapore Night Festival, amongst other events. SMU student club Samba Masala also organised Singapore’s first samba percussion festival, which drew a lively crowd to Campus Green on 7 February 2015.

In June, SMU and Citi Singapore co-organised the Financial Literacy Fiesta on Campus Green. The three-day Fiesta consisted of a symposium as well as a financial literacy themed carnival, workshops and a heritage trail held in partnership with the Singapore Mint, which featured an exhibition of the evolution of the Singapore currency over the decades. The carnival attracted more than 7,000 people, including Citi staff, SMU faculty, staff and students, as well as members of the public.

The Shirin Fozdar Programme (SFP) in 2009 was brought under the auspices of the SMU Wee Kim Wee Centre. On 1 April 2014, SFP marked its five-year milestone with a new home, moving to SMU’s Business Families Institute under the charge of Professor Annie Koh. The programme, which is chaired by Ms Claire Chang, will continue with its aim of developing and executing initiatives that significantly benefit women in the community, particularly those who are disadvantaged.

SMU the Knowledge Partnerfor TV’s Perspectives SMU was for the second season the Knowledge Partner for Perspectives – Channel NewsAsia’s flagship panel discussion programme dissecting current events and issues. All six one-hour episodes were recorded at SMU Labs and featured SMU faculty members in conversation with other influential thought leaders from around the region. Professor Arnoud De Meyer took part in the programme about 21st century skills for the millennial generation; Professor Gerard George, Dean of Lee Kong Chian School of Business, discussed innovation and societal change; Associate Professor Basil C. Bitas, School of Law spoke on territorial conflict in Southeast Asia and international law; Professor David Chan, School of Social Sciences discussed tackling rising inequality in Asia; Associate Professor Archan Misra, School of Information Systems conversed about big data and smart data; and in the final episode, Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman, SMU Chairman and Professor James Tang, Dean of School of Social Sciences, considered global security threats and Asia’s role in the world. Teymoor Nabili, a veteran international journalist, moderated debates which drew questions and discussion points from audiences consisting of SMU faculty members, students and staff, as well as guests from corporate, political and civil sectors.

Presidential DistinguishedLecturer SeriesFour distinguished speakers presented the 16th–19th talks in the Presidential Distinguished Lecturer Series between November 2014 and February 2015. Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, argued that leaders today need to understand and embrace the networked world in order to stay ahead. His Excellency Herman Van Rompuy, the first full-time President of the European Council shared his views on how Europe should revive its economy and the impact that the European economy has had on Asia. Professor Jonathan Haidt, the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business, said the keys to happiness are having: strong relationships, work that allows people to use their strengths, and a sense of connection to something larger than oneself. Lastly, Professor Mari Pangestu, Indonesia’s former Minister of Trade (2004–2011) and former Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (2011–2014) argued that Indonesia must restructure and reform to maintain its competitiveness.

(Top photo) SMU Chairman and Tan Sri Dr Munir Majid, Chairman, CIMB ASEAN Research Institute. (Bottom photo) Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business Professor Gerard George (3rd from left) and panel.

(Clockwise from top left) Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, His Excellency Herman Van Rompuy, Professor Mari Pangestu and Professor Jonathan Haidt.

STUDENTS ON GLOBAL STAGE

2015 SEA Games A major sporting event for SMU, Singapore and the region this year was the 2015 SEA Games (5–16 June 2015). Some 28 SMU students and alumni competed in 17 sports to win 16 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 8 bronze medals. Topping the scoreboard with two gold medals each were swimmer Yeo Kai Quan, sailors Terena Lam and Dawn Liu, and synchronised swimmer Shona Lim; as well as Chelsea Ann Sim who won a gold and a silver in taekwondo. Apart from athletes, some 20 SMU staff and students were also active in behind-the-scene roles, volunteering their time, and contributing to the success of the Games by assisting in various areas such as photography, VIP guest liaison and games chaperones. One of them who tirelessly spent hours photographing our be-medalled athletes was Shaun Ho, Senior Assistant Director from Office of Business Improvement, who volunteered as a photographer for wire news agency Reuters.

At the 6th Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland (15–16 November 2014), Chelsea Ann Sim also won two gold medals in the Under 30 Female and Under 30 Pair categories, and was named Best Female Player of the entire tournament.

SMU Dragonboaters beat 11 teams from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan to emerge champions in the Under 23 Men’s and Under 23 Mixed categories in the Penang Pesta Dragonboat Race (6–7 December 2014).

Team SMU sailors emerged second out of seven highly skilled international teams in the Sportsboat category of the prestigious 13th Royal Langkawi International Regatta (12–17 January 2015).

Other SMU undergraduates winning Gold: Yip Yang (Water Polo), Liane Wong (Fencing), Lee Kai Yang (Water Polo), Chelsea Ann Sim (Taekwondo).

Chelsea Ann Sim at the 6th Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland.

SMU Student Association’s 15th president Adeline Lim Jiayu (far right) represented SMU and Singapore at the prestigious McDonald Cadet Leadership Conference 2015 at the West Point Military Academy in New York, USA.

SMU students on a Business Cultural Study Mission Trip in Beijing, China, at the Forbidden City.

SMU students on a Business Cultural Study Mission Trip in India, at the Taj Mahal.

SMU exchange students in Seoul, South Korea.

Team SMU at the Royal Langkawi International Regatta.

The SMU Dragonboat Team at the Penang Pesta Dragonboat Race.

Double Gold medal sailors in the 2015 SEA Games, SMU undergraduate Dawn Liu and alumnus Terena Lam.

Facebook Singapore Hackathon A School of Information Systems Master of Applied Information Systems student Xu Mengxiang won the Facebook Singapore Hackathon for the second year running. He was in the team which won the Singapore competition in February 2014 and then clinched third place in the Global Hackathon Finals. In February 2015, he won the Singapore round again with different team members and the team will again represent Singapore at the Global Hackathon Finals at Facebook headquarters at the end of this year.

Mengxiang was also a recipient of the Standard Chartered iLab @ SMU Award: SMU Innovation Project Award, and the Standard Chartered iLab @ SMU Award: SMU Young Stars Award in 2013. He was on the Dean’s List for 2011 and 2012. He also won the Master of Applied Information Systems Merit Award administered by SMU.

Audi and Robert Walters Global Business Case Challenge 2015 SMU’s Team Cognitare won the inaugural Audi and Robert Walters Global Business Case Challenge 2015, held at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan in June. The team members, who are from the schools of accountancy, business and economics, developed strategic recommendations for automobile manufacturer, Audi, before presenting their proposal to a panel of judges from top firms, including Audi, Robert Walters and Samsung. They triumphed over 13 other teams from nine countries, including University of California, Berkeley, and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Another team from Cognitaire came in first runner-up at the Chulalongkorn International Case Competition 2015 held in Thailand.

APEI Leveraged Buyout Case Competition 2015 SMU teams also secured 1st and 3rd positions in the APEI Leveraged Buyout Case Competition 2015, Asia’s first private equity case competition, which attracted over 30 teams from 11 countries. The Silver medal went to a team from London Business School.

A first of its kind, the competition was conceptualised and run entirely by postgraduate students of the Asia Private Equity Club @ SMU (APECS).

SMU Team Leveredge (left to right): Tan Jhun Boon, Lim Daoliang Elijah, Lee Shu Ting Brenda and Kwek Jin Yang Jayme.

SMU Team Cognitaire (left to right): Bay Jin Cheng Justin, Colin Chng Min Kiat, Feng Luwei, Chris and Vedant Daga, with faculty advisor Senior Lecturer Ma Kheng Min (middle).

Xu Mengxiang, SMU Master of Applied Information Systems student, has won the Facebook Singapore Hackathon twice.

SMU students (left to right) Tan Jhun Boon, Samuel Tan Hin Thye, Han Meng Siew and Feng Luwei winning the top prize at the international CIMA Global Business Challenge 2015 in Warsaw, Poland.

(For left) Judge Howard Morrison with SMU’s champion team at the International Criminal Court (ICC) moot court competition (left to right): Annabelle Teo, Samuel Yap, Alexis Ang, Foo Shi Hao, Ong Chin Kiat and Edmund Koh. (Photo courtesy of ICC-CPI.)

SMU Chamber Choir proclaiming their success in Bratislava.

SMU Chamber Choir SMU Chamber Choir took part in the 9th Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival 2015 held in Vienna, Austria, from 3–7 July, where they sang with choral groups from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and Romania. They also performed for a small community in the outskirts of Vienna.

The group then went on to the 7th International Youth Music Festival 2015 held in Bratislava, Slovakia, from 9–12July. They competed with half a dozen groups representing Germany, Belgium, Estonia, USA, Bosnia and Czech Republic, in the Sacred Music A Cappella and Folksong A Cappella categories, and won Gold Awards for each.

Mooting SMU now has a total of 13 international championships in 26 final appearances since the School of Law’s moot programme was launched in AY2009/10. In this season alone, SMU has reached eight international championship finals, winning five. This is also the 10th time SMU has reached any championship final (fifth time winning it) in its first attempt.

Most recently, in May, SMU’s mooters won top prize from the International Criminal Court (ICC) moot court competition. It was SMU’s first entry in the competition and the first time a team from Singapore has won the championship. The team was also named Best Overall Team (Victim’s Representative) and one member, Annabelle Teo Li Ping, was named Best Speaker of the entire tournament. The competition is the largest and most prestigious moot competition in the world on international criminal law.

CIMA 2015 GlobalBusiness Challenge SMU students are world champions in the CIMA Global Business Challenge 2015, beating 25 other talented teams from around the world. They nabbed Singapore’s first win in the global final of the prestigious competition for future business leaders, held in Poland. The team called ‘Tueur Consulting’ flew to Warsaw after winning the national final in June to represent Singapore. The contest, into its seventh year, is run by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, in partnership with Barclays.

Corporate awards Not only has SMU’s Integrated Information Technology Services (IITS) garnered the CIO 100 Honouree award for the second year in a row, this year it also received the nod from the judges for project submissions for excellence in strategic enterprise IT deployment, making IITS the proud recipient of two CIO Honouree awards. The projects were: the Advanced Learning Analytics (ALA) tool, which helps detect learning risks early enough so that relevant interventions can be designed to improve student learning and success outcomes; and SIEM-X (Security Incident Event Management Extension), which extended the use of a highly technical back-end monitoring tool used by trained security personnel, to a front-end monitoring tool used by helpdesk agents and other IITS user support staff. Mr Lau Kai Cheong, SMU’s Chief Information Officer and Vice President for Integrated Information Technology Services, received the awards at the CXO-CIO Conference on 7 May 2015.

SMU was awarded the Singapore H.E.A.L.T.H. (Helping Employees Achieve Life-Time Health) Gold Award 2014. This marks SMU’s second consecutive Singapore H.E.A.L.T.H. Gold Award, and will pave the way for SMU to apply for the Platinum Award in 2016. The Singapore H.E.A.L.T.H. Award is a biennial award presented by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) to give national recognition to organisations with commendable Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) programmes. It honours companies that strive to help their employees lead healthy and vibrant lives. The WHP programme itself is separated into three components – general health, targeted interventions and mental health. Through the efforts of SMU WOW, SMU’s staff-led health and wellness committee, SMU embarked on various activities as part of its WHP programme. These activities included monthly lunchtime health and wellness talks, weekly exercise sessions, health food giveaways, and the annual Amazing Health Race.

The 2014 undergraduate admissions advertising campaign “Choose Transformation. Choose a Different U” won medals in two awards and three categories. At the Marketing Excellence Awards 2014 in November it won Bronze for Excellence in Advertising, judged on the criteria of engaging the target audience through strong creative thinking and media use to achieve a specific marketing outcome or result; and Bronze for Excellence in Digital Marketing for using digital channels such as web, mobile, email to deliver an engaging consumer experience while driving core business objectives. At Mob-Ex 2015 (Southeast Asia), it won Bronze in Viral Marketing, judged on capturing users’ attention and creating a self-replicating viral process involving the mobile platform to create brand awareness.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCEAdvancement Overall, SMU raised $12.5m in the last financial year (FY2014/15) which attracts an approximate $15m of government matching from the Ministry of Education. During the past academic year (AY2014/15) DR. Tahir & Jonathan Tahir’s made a gift to benefit needy SMU students; the Kwan Im Hood Cho Temple Bursary gift followed the Temple’s earlier donation to establish the Kwan Im Hood Cho Scholarships in 2013; Mr Yong Pung How’s gift breathed life into new law research centres; Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services made a donation for Business Families Institute research; and Citi Singapore donated $320,000 to create greater awareness of the Financial Literacy Fiesta on Campus Green in June 2015.

Office of Business Improvement The Office of Business Improvement (OBI) has continued to enhance the University’s operational strength by improving quality and productivity. Various projects undertaken include improving lead management for postgraduate admissions, refining the admissions interview experience, streamlining the administration of exchange programmes, and shortening the processing time for student claims. OBI has also continued its collaboration with the Li Ka Shing Library on Six Sigma Green Belt training and recently launched its own Business Excellence Award.

Ten largest donations received in FY2014/15

DR. Tahir & Jonathan Tahir $2,000,000.00

Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple $1,000,000.00

Yong Pung How $1,000,000.00

Citi Singapore $655,938.00

Timothy Chia Chee Ming $510,000.00

Deloitte Southeast Asia $500,000.00

Genting Singapore PLC $500,000.00

Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited $363,020.00

Lee Kwai Fong and Raymond Goh $350,000.00

Johnson & Johnson Pte Ltd $278,747.50

Members of the IITS Advanced Learning Analytics team which won the CIO 100 Honouree award, (from left) Zhu Yan, May Lit, CIO & Vice President Lau Kai Cheong, and Fan Tang Meng.

With the Singapore H.E.A.L.T.H. Gold Award 2014 SMU WOW team members: (front row, left to right) Lin Zhenwei; Raymond Singh (Chairperson), Janet P Sinon (Vice Chairperson); (back row, left to right) Terence Tan (Vice President, HRFA); Zhu Yan, Irene Soh, and Sheila Wan. WOW members not in the photo are Cui Hui, Joanne Victoria Poon Shuk Yee, and Syarina Bte Jaslee.

Alan Goh, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Marketing (3rd from left) and Ted Choo,Head, Corporate Marketing (2nd from right), with members of SMU’s award-winning Marketing team.

All information is correct at time of printing, but subject to change.