Stay Young As You Grow Old

1.         It is my privilege to officiate at this commencement ceremony, the second in SMU’s very young history and the first since you moved into your new city campus.  I would like to first congratulate the 483 graduands from the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, the School of Accountancy and the School of Economics and Social Sciences, as well as the pioneer 37 graduates of the Masters of Science in Wealth Management.   

SMU Has Done Well

2.         SMU has done remarkably well in its first 5 years. Who says so? First, employers say so, and that’s the most important measure of your success.  Employers who have hired SMU graduates or taken in SMU interns say they are different.  They are willing to think laterally, and are able to communicate their ideas effectively and confidently.  And they already show something in the way of leadership skills.

3.         Second, students say so.  The SMU students whom I meet are an enthusiastic bunch.  A year ago, I met a group of SMU student leaders for an informal dialogue.  They were one of the most lively and questioning groups of young people whom I have met in our universities.  I suspect this is partly a matter of self-selection.  Students in your pioneering batches were a self-selected lot, different from the norm.  They were willing to take a risk by putting their precious university years with a new institution without a brand in the market.  I suspect also that SMU’s somewhat non-traditional admission methods helped.  SMU went, from the outset, for a holistic approach to selecting students.  It wanted to admit individuals with a breadth of interests, and the all-rounded muscle that made them more likely to thrive in times of challenge and to succeed in life.

4.         But I am sure it’s not just the way the individuals are, and the way that SMU selects its students, but also the educational experience that SMU provides that accounts for why SMU graduates end up with something to differentiate themselves in the market.  As a small university, and with a seminar-style education as its central feature, SMU has been able to give everyone an opportunity to express their thoughts, and explore their interests. 

5.         It accounts too for why SMU students do well in international  competitions -   such as the Copenhagen Business School and the Trust-Danone business case competitions where they emerged champions, beating teams from far more well-established overseas universities. 

6.         Thirdly, your donors say so. SMU has done very well to raise substantial amounts of funding from benefactors in Singapore and abroad. It is a measure of what SMU has already achieved, as well as how it is able to show that its aspirations as a young university are credible. 

7.        SMU has proven itself, in five short years.  So it is no surprise that its popularity is rising, despite the premium it now charges in its fees.  More than 9,000 applications were received for 1,100 places at SMU in this year’s admissions exercise.  SMU’s new, state-of-the-art city campus may have something to do with this, but it’s much more than that.  SMU is now viewed as quality player in the Singapore and regional university landscape, and a leader in some respects in university pedagogy.

8.         The responsibility for this lies in SMU’s people – its Chairman and Trustees, the Presidents, past and present, and the faculty, who have together built a credible university brand from scratch.  And of course, the first two cohorts of students themselves, who have graduated from SMU and already made an impact on the market.

9.         SMU has also been a successful test-bed for university autonomy.  Its success as a small, privately-run but publicly-funded university has given the Government confidence to go ahead and devolve greater autonomy to our two larger universities, NUS and NTU. 

10.       There is however much to be done, as SMU grows up and matures as a university.  Let me touch on four broad areas that SMU may wish to focus on as it moves ahead in life.     

Globalising University Education

11.       First, we have to globalise university education.  Singapore is a small country.  It is absolutely critical that we bring diversity into our students’ university experience, despite our size.  Diversity of talents, of ways of approaching problems, and in ways of looking at the world.  That way we avoid the convergence of thinking and assumptions that is the always the danger in a small society.

12.       We therefore have to bring foreign students into our universities, as well as send our students abroad.  Both these flows, in and out, are critical to the diversity of educational experience that our universities have to provide. 

13.       Our universities are doing well to attract very able foreign students. SMU has done well to bring in participants from a wide range of countries, including India and China, Southeast Asia and, I am happy to note, from the Middle East and Africa.  But the university landscape is getting more competitive, globally.  Even China, a relatively new player in global university education, is attracting large numbers of foreign students.  Bright Asian students have more choices now than even 5 years ago.  We will have to work hard and find compelling advantages to keep Singapore a university destination of choice.  

14.       But we also have to do more in sending our students abroad.  The experience of an overseas stint is one of the most important learning experiences we should provide in our universities.  Living, learning or even working overseas during the university years give students a real, first hand feel for other cultures and practices, and for intellectual methods different from what they have been used to.  It also gives them useful contacts for their future undertakings.

15.       I am glad SMU intends to send at least 50% of its students overseas, one or two years from now.  I understand SMU will soon have signed partnership agreements with 100 foreign universities for overseas exchange programmes.  These include non-traditional destinations like Mexico, the Czech Republic and Hungary. SMU students can also experience what it is like to work abroad through overseas internships and a programme the university calls Business Study Missions which was started in 2002.  Groups of students have travelled to Silicon Valley, Spain, China, India and Thailand to explore business opportunities and do case studies on how business is done in these countries. 

Developing Specialised Postgraduate and Executive Education

16.       Let me now touch on the second area of focus as SMU moves into its next phase of growth – which is the development of postgraduate and executive education, and research capabilities in selective areas.  SMU has established itself as a quality business school in Singapore, with good undergraduate programmes in finance, economics and other business-related disciplines.  The prospects for achieving SMU’s goal of becoming a premier business school are promising.  Similar to other great business schools, besides continuing to improve its undergraduate programs, SMU can achieve its goal of excellence by developing strengths in specialised areas of post-graduate training, in executive education, and in cutting-edge research with industry.

17.       The opportunities that SMU has to collaborate with industry are well illustrated in the financial sector.  Quality and depth of professional manpower are critical to Singapore’s development as a financial centre.  In turn, as a leading international financial centre in Asia, Singapore offers the unique opportunity for education providers like SMU to work with major players, and design training and research programmes at the forefront of industry practice.  The benefits flow in both directions.

Specialised Postgraduate Training

18.       A good example is how SMU has been working closely with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Wealth Management Institute to developing specialised training in wealth management.  Today, there is a special group of 37 among you who comprise the first batch to complete the Master of Science in Wealth Management.  This programme, a unique collaboration between SMU, the locally-based Wealth Management Institute and the Swiss Banking School, has already earned high accolades from industry players in the region.  It will play an important role in supporting Singapore’s growth as a global centre for wealth management. 

19.       The model can be replicated in other areas where the financial  industry requires high quality, specialised expertise, such as in financial engineering and risk management.

Executive Training

20.       Executive training, as part of continuous education, is another major opportunity for SMU.  Here too SMU is making good progress, working together with its partners.  The latest executive programmes to be launched include the Chicago GSB-SMU Strategic Marketing Course and the SMU-Mercer-SBF Strategic Human Capital Management Programme. 

21.       Executive education is a market with tremendous potential for growth.  And Singapore, at the crossroads of Asia, is an ideal location for senior executives to pursue such programmes.  This is why top business schools like INSEAD and the Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) have successfully established their branch campuses in Singapore. 

22.       SMU must be prepared to compete, as well as collaborate with top business schools globally to develop its postgraduate and executive education programmes.  Here too it has already started.  For example, besides its programme with Chicago GSB, just two weeks ago SMU hosted the Asia Pacific module of the International Senior Entrepreneurial Leadership Program organized by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and the University of St. Gallen. 

Research and Development

23.       Developing research capabilities will also enhance SMU’s position as a leading business university.  Our universities are growing their links with industry in engineering, the sciences and medicine.  There is also scope to do so in the finance-related disciplines, so as to strengthen capabilities in Singapore’s financial centre. 

24.       This practice of industry-university linkages is already common in some of the other major financial centres.  For example, researchers at the London Business School and other key universities in London have close links with practitioners in the City, facilitating valuable cross-fertilisation  of ideas and knowledge.

25.       The financial markets in Asia are less well studied than those in the US and Europe. There is considerable scope for original research on the region, such as on the infrastructure for cross-border capital market integration, on price correlations and on the transmission of shocks between financial markets and economies. Such research can assist financial sector players from both business and risk management perspectives, as the economic networks and relationships among countries in the region become increasingly intertwined.

26.       The collaboration can also extend to the policy arena. For example, SMU’s School of Economics and Social Sciences has developed particular expertise in applied econometrics that can be tapped upon.   I understand that MAS’ own economists have already been working with some of the SMU’s faculty in its economic forecasting and monetary policy research. 

Building Alumni Relations

27.      Let me move on to the third priority as SMU moves ahead, and that is to build a strong network with its fledgling alumni, including all of you who are here today.   

28.       In this respect, SMU has both the disadvantage and advantage of not having a long history.  Building alumni traditions and networks takes time. But SMU’s graduates like the Class of 2005 also have a special sense of belonging to the university. You are the pioneers, the group of individuals who have helped make this university what it is in a short space of time.    

29.       Do not lose this sense of belonging.  Keep it alive, and find ways to return the investment that has been placed in you.  There are many ways you can do this.  You can return to share lessons and tips, your successes and failures, with new crops of undergraduates.  You can play advisory roles in SMU clubs and activities, or through industry advisory groups that can help the faculty stay in touch with market needs.  Or you can help train students for business case or essay competitions. 

30.       It is truly encouraging therefore that a group of graduates has come together to form the SMU Alumni Association this year.  I am told that the fund raising arm of the Association has initiated an SMU Alumni Scholarship Fund which aims to raise $50,000 from the alumni body.  It is a commendable step, and an act of leadership that I commend you for.    

Stay Young As You Grow Old

31.       Let me come to the fourth challenge for SMU that I want to suggest. It is probably the most important.  This is the challenge of staying young as you get older.

32.       I recall the first generation SMU slogan.  The advertising banner, the one showing a student jumping with exhilaration, proclaimed “We are Different”.  The latest slogan I think says “I love SMU”. It’s clever advertising.  But people I talk to think it is not without substance.

33.       How will SMU make sure that its students stay different, and continue to love SMU, when it is now longer a lovable toddler, no longer a bright new face but a well-established university, 10, 15 or 20 years from now?  How do you make sure that the first blush of love, that you engendered in your first 5 years, endures as you grow into adolescence and even as you grey?

34.       SMU has made the most of its initial advantages - its very small enrolment, and the lack of fixed ways amongst faculty and administration. No baggage carried down from the past.  It gave the university’s leadership a free hand to shape a new faculty culture, and to bring in bold and flexible methods in the way students were admitted and the way they learnt, in and out of the classroom.  But these initial advantages fade as you grow in years.  And the self-selection of risk-taking students which you saw amongst your initial Classes - when the SMU brand was not established - will be less obvious as the years go past and new students get attracted to SMU for its established brand. 

35.       This is the challenge that SMU faces.  Stay young as you move ahead in life.    I urge you to work hard to keep your culture of being different, to nurture a spirit of adventure in each and every student, to encourage the irregular amongst the regular, and to avoid yielding to generalised norms and standards for convenience.  Avoid the contentment that sets in too easily when you have had initial success.  As the lessons you teach your students from the business world tell, success is usually fleeting -  if it is not continually recreated and reinvented.  I am confident the university’s leadership can meet this challenge of keeping SMU youthful and agile.

36.       The challenge for you, the Class of 2005, is no different.  You have to keep the spirit of adventure and the sense of conviction that have grown with you in your university years alive for many years to come.  As the Bob Dylan song goes,

“May you grow up to be righteous.

May you grow up to be true.

May you always know the truth and see the light surrounding you.

May you always be courageous, stand upright and strong.

May you stay forever young.”

Conclusion