12 March 2016

Singapore Management University (SMU) has devised a new approach to teaching and learning, implemented under a programme called SMU-X. SMU-X courses consist of group project work in which student teams come up with multi-disciplinary approaches to real-world problems. A public policy management course, for instance, may involve getting students to devise new programmes for disadvantaged families.

Every SMU undergraduate will be able to take up at least one SMU-X course over their four years of study. Professors and industry mentors will guide students through their projects, and students are graded on their participation as well as the final outcome of the project.

SMU’s provost, Professor Lily Kong, noted that SMU-X courses suit millennial students aiming to keep up with learning on the go. She said: “The hands-on nature of the projects, the interface with the real world, the solving of actual problems in the public, private or people sectors, the flexibility of learning, the opportunity to work and learn at all hours of the day and night in 24/7 facilities — all these make SMU-X responsive to the learning styles and motivations of the millennial student.”

One in three SMU students indicated that they are likely to work in a similar industry as the company they worked with in an SMU-X course.