History

By the late 1990s, it was clear that Singapore needed another institution at university level. Dr Tony Tan recalls the three reasons that Mr Ho Kwon Ping and his council put forth for starting SMU. First, SMU would take on a different direction from NUS or NTU. Second, the subjects that SMU were going to teach, business and management, would be very widely accepted in Singapore because of its position as a business hub. Third, SMU would establish itself as a city university on extremely valuable land. Since its launch, seven student cohorts have graduated and been well received – so SMU has been a success.

The planning team was still employed at NUS and NTU till 1998, meeting in the evenings and weekends to do their planning before resigning to form SMU’s steering committee. The 12 members of the pioneer team comprised Tan Teck Meng, Tan Chin Tiong, Leong Kwong Sin, Pang Yang Hoong, Low Kee Yang, Toh Thian Ser, Hwang Soo Chiat, Michael Gan, Tsui Kai Chong, Khoo Teng Aun, Tan Wee Liang and Low Aik Meng, led by Mr Ho Kwon Ping as the chairman. Operating as a team, each member also had a specific function ranging from strategic issues such as the vision and mission, to teaching pedagogy, finance, legal matters and so on.

In its aim to develop holistic and well-rounded SMU graduates, students are required to perform 80-hours of community service as part of their undergraduate curriculum. SMU is working with the National Volunteer Centre to help students identify volunteer opportunities in the arts, environment, heritage and sports.

Singapore Management University is incorporated as a non-profit private limited company with an independent board of trustees. Mr Ho Kwon Ping is appointed chairman of SMU's board of trustees. Groundbreaking ceremony signals start of construction for SMU's interim campus at Evans Road.

The SMU logo is conceptualised, taking on the form of a lion that represents Singapore. The surrounding tangram pieces represent management, while the eyebrow of the lion represents intellect, or university. The overall impact is simple, yet profound – helping students to identify with, and feel that they belong to the university.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was chosen to serve as a model for SMU, after an extensive review of many undergraduate business schools. The Wharton-SMU agreement was signed in February 1999, followed in June by the Wharton-SMU Research Centre collaboration. In July 1999, Professor Janice Bellace, then Deputy Dean of the Wharton School, commenced a two-year term as SMU's first president.

As SMU fulfilled its mission and vision of becoming a top-class university, the planning team recognised the need to instil certain core values in SMU graduates which would make them distinctive and give them an identity. This led to the creation of the SMU CIRCLE values – Commitment, Integrity, Responsibility, Collegiality, Leadership, and Excellence. The quintessential SMU graduate would be developed through a holistic education involving rigorous academic training, with an inculcated value system and sense of social responsibility echoing these values.

SMU moves from its interim campus on Evans Road to the renovated, historic Bukit Timah campus, often referred to as “the cradle of tertiary education in Singapore” and previously home to two earlier universities, the University of Malaya and the University of Singapore. While preserving the buildings' period architecture, classrooms are remodelled for seminar-style teaching, with wireless internet available throughout the campus and state-of-the-art upgrades planned for the upcoming year.

SMU welcomes the pioneer batch of 306 students with an inaugural convocation held at Bras Basah Park. SMU's first school, the School of Business, commences.

Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan announces the start of the School of Accountancy. SMU will become the first Singapore university to offer an American-style, broad-based accountancy degree programme with professional recognition. Classes will begin in August 2001. Associate Professor Pang Yang Hoong is founding dean of the new school. She joined SMU's start-up team in 1998. Prior to that, Professor Pang was the director of the PhD programme and head of auditing and taxation at the School of Accountancy and Business, Nanyang Technological University.

During his address at the Convocation ceremony, guest-of-honour Education Minister Teo Chee Hean announced the launch of SMU’s third school, the School of Economics and Social Sciences. The first students for the BSc (Economics) degree will be admitted in 2002.

Patron's Day commemorates the incorporation of SMU in January 2000. The first patron of SMU is President of Singapore, Mr S R Nathan. SMU celebrated its first Patron's Day by hosting a visit of President Nathan at its Evans Road campus

The Master Plan for SMU’s City Campus at Bras Basah has been approved by the Minister of National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan. The campus is believed to be the first of its kind – to be designed, integrated and built from scratch in the heart of a developed cityscape. It will eventually accommodate 15,000 students in nine buildings spread over 7.76 hectares of land.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr Li Ka Shing donates a record S$19.5 million to SMU, to go towards the endowment of the new SMU library at the new city campus, as well as for new scholarship programmes – both of which will be named after him. The Singapore Government matched the gift with $3 for every dollar donated, generating a further S$58.5 million.

SMU announces the formation of a fourth school, the School of Information Systems (SIS). The new school will have a cross-disciplinary approach, preparing IT graduates who can work at the interface between business and technology. Steven Miller, chief architect executive, IBM Business Innovation Services ASEAN, is appointed as interim dean.

SMU receives landmark gift of S$50 million from the Lee Foundation. The Singapore Government matches $3 for every dollar donated, resulting in another $150 million for SMU's endowment fund .The School of Business and a university-wide scholars programme are named in honour of the late Dr Lee Kong Chian, a businessman and philanthropist, and a firm believer in education.

SMU celebrated its pioneer class of students at its inaugural commencement ceremony. Undergraduate students who completed their 4-year programme were awarded Bachelor of Business Management or Bachelor of Accountancy degrees. 21 students earned double degrees, while 41 graduate students were awarded Master of Applied Finance degrees.

In 5 formative years, the Bukit Timah location established 4 schools, 5 undergraduate and 2 graduate degree programmes, the library and 3 centres of excellence. SMU made a symbolic move to its new and permanent 4.5-hectare, S$425 million city campus in Bras Basah with a parade of 1,000 undergraduates and academics. The area has a long association with Singapore education and is also a centre of commercial, art and cultural activity.

Three blocks of conservation flats have undergone a S$13 million renovation to provide 48 apartments for 261 students at Residences @ Prinsep, which is a 10-minute walk from campus. Housing priority is given to foreign students, with a group of 'residential seniors' providing leadership and support to hostel residents.

SMU's new city campus is officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The academic buildings and library were designed by Edward Cullinan Architects in collaboration with KNTA, taking five years of planning and construction to complete. The new 14-storey administration building at Victoria Street was designed by Cox Architects and DEG Architects.

The new School of Law will provide legal education with a strong business orientation to prepare graduates for law practice in Singapore and in the region. It will offer a four-year undergraduate law degree programme, and a five-year double degree programme combining law with accountancy, business, economics, information systems or social sciences.

The School of Economics and Social Sciences is reorganised into two separate schools – the School of Economics and the School of Social Sciences. Professor Roberto Mariano is dean of the School of Economics, while Professor David Chan is interim dean of the School of Social Sciences.

Attorney-General Mr Steven Chong was guest of honour at the groundbreaking ceremony for SMU’s new 22,000 sqm School of Law building, which will feature the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library named in memory of the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo – the first Asian woman to graduate with first-class honours in Law from Cambridge University and the wife of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The building will also house the David Marshall Moot Court and the SMU Pro Bono Centre.

As SMU comes up to its 15th year and has reached an inflection point, SMU Chairman and Board of Trustees together with senior leaders endorsed a powerful bold vision called SMU Vision 2025 – of becoming a multi­disciplinary university, making meaningful impact on the world.

The SMU-X Initiative focuses on learning through innovative curriculum and unconventional learning facilities, reflecting SMU’s commitment to stay ahead of innovative pedagogy by pushing boundaries and venturing into new ways of bridging theory and practice.

SMU officially launched SMU Academy, its lifelong learning unit offering professional continuing education programmes to support the government’s Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) and SkillsFuture initiatives.

Situated at the intersection of Armenian Street and Canning Rise, the 23,000-square-meter SMU School of Law building (later christened as SMU Yong Pung How School of Law), equivalent to 52 basketball courts, stands as a testament to modern architecture. Notable within it is the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library, a tribute to the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo, honoring her legacy as the wife of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Professor Lily Kong is named the University’s fifth President, succeeding Professor Arnoud De Meyer. The first woman to lead an Institute of Higher Learning in Singapore, Professor Kong brings her experience as a top academic leader and award-winning researcher and educator to the post.

Adapting to industry shifts and the new demands of the digital economy, several schools are adapting their curriculum with new programme offerings this year: 

The School of Information Systems is offering two new undergraduate degree programmes – Bachelor of Science (Computer Science), and Bachelor of Science (Computing & Law). 

The School of Law and Singapore Judicial College are jointly offering The Master of Laws in Judicial Studies, the first of its kind in the region. 

The Lee Kong Chian School of Business is launching the Blended Master’s in Management Programme, offering flexible online learning to allow candidates to study while pursuing full-time careers.

Amidst the pandemic, the University specially curated a Virtual Graduation and Career Fair for the Class of 2020 – the only Institute of Higher Learning in Singapore to hold an online ceremony. The graduating cohort enjoyed a memorable closing of this chapter in their life!

The new SMU Connexion (SMUC) building is located between SMU’s School of Accountancy and School of Law, the new building added teaching-and-learning space to SMU’s city campus.

This new pathway complements SMU’s core discipline, nurturing future clinicians who can shape the healthcare ecosystem with their knowledge of law, social sciences, business or computing. Students will pursue a four-year undergraduate programme at SMU and gain a conditional admission to Duke-NUS’ Doctor of Medicine (MD) programme to train in medicine at Duke-NUS.

Offered by the School of Information Systems, this new Professional Doctoral Degree aims to transform IT professionals into IT leaders by training them to innovate, design and manage complex IT systems.

The first of its kind in Singapore, the Digital Business Major aims to shape talented individuals who can support business digital transformation across industries. This second major will be jointly offered by the Lee Kong Chian School of Business and the School of Computing & Information Systems.
 

In tune with industry shifts and demands, the School of Information Systems (SIS) has been renamed the School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS) to include computing, which encompasses Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Software Engineering.

The School of Law will be renamed the Yong Pung How School of Law in honour of the late Dr Yong Pung How, Singapore’s former Chief Justice and SMU’s third Chancellor, on 11 April 2021 – which would have been Dr Yong’s 95th birthday. The renaming celebrates Dr Yong’s legacy and vision for a Singapore law school of the highest pedigree.

In our relentless pursuit of sustainability, SMU proudly unveils a cutting-edge eco-friendly building on our urban campus. This addition marks a significant stride in our commitment to fostering a greener environment, integrating state-of-the-art technologies and sustainable features. Aligned with our vision, this structure amplifies energy efficiency and minimizes our ecological footprint.