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[18 January 2005]
Singapore Management University Revises AY2005
Tuition Fees
- Fee increase reflects more commensurate cost of premium
education
The Singapore Management University (SMU)
is revising its tuition fees for all its undergraduate courses
in Academic Year (AY) 2005 from its current S$5,650 to S$6,500.
This is the first fee increase that SMU is implementing since
the university was incorporated in January 2000.
The new AY 2005 tuition fees more accurately
reflect the unique and differentiating pedagogy of the university
which aims to groom outstanding business leaders and creative
entrepreneurs capable of excelling in a rapidly changing
and dynamic world. The university offers a broad-based curriculum
with flexibility in subject choices and subject combinations,
seminar-style pedagogy with low student to teacher ratio
and a high level of interactivity, the emphasis on and opportunities
for internships and personalised attention for each student.
Student care and attention extend beyond the classroom to
the provision of out-of-classroom support such as comprehensive
career management and other enhancement programmes. The highly
selective student intake is deliberately kept to a size that
allows SMU to provide for that level of student-faculty interaction
and close attention to individual student development that
generates the most beneficial educational experiences for
students.
Said Professor Howard Hunter, President,
SMU, “We have deliberated on the fee increase taking
into consideration the university's various sources of income
and university endowments, as compared with the costs of
running a premium university. The Board of Trustees decided
on the quantum based on SMU's need to continue to attract
world-class faculty and staff, develop and deliver first-rate
and rigorous curricula, produce high standards of research
and academic works and provide cutting-edge technology and
other infrastructural support. All these are hallmarks of
the premium brand of education that SMU has established a
reputation for and students can expect to receive.”
The new city campus, into which the university
will move in the middle of the year, plays an integral role
in supporting SMU's teaching approach to encourage active
learning, critical and independent thinking and adaptability
to business dynamics. The campus will boast technological
connectivity which reflects the global drive for technological
advancement, state-of-the art seminar-style classrooms and
break-out rooms that facilitate stimulating exchanges and
an innovative and well thought-out layout, which fully integrates
the university into the buzz of the city district while at
the same time blending into the park land on which it is
sited. The campus infrastructure completes the holistic university
experience which is unique to SMU and which must necessarily
be reflected in a modest premium.
Students and prospective students can be
assured that no deserving students will be deprived of an
SMU education because of the fee revision. Qualified students
with financial difficulties will have a comprehensive range
of financial assistance packages to benefit from. The university
provides work-study schemes, tuition loans, scholarships
and bursaries which complement other government financial
aids such as the Tuition Fee Loan (TFL) Scheme. There will,
in fact, be an increase in the number of scholarships in
AY 2005, with a total of more than 100 scholarships for the
new intake. This means that effectively one in nine admitted
students will have a chance to qualify for a scholarship.
Additionally, the university will open a student employment
unit to assist students find off-campus part-time employment
to help with their educational expenses.
Added Professor Hunter, “Rest assured
that the revision of tuition fees for AY 2005 is not a substitute
for prudent financial management and other cost-containment
measures which the university has always practised. Rather,
it is to ensure that the university continues to be able
to provide that quality of education that has come to be
expected of us.”
For more information, please contact:
Sharon Tan
Director
Corporate Communications
Singapore Management University
Tel: 68220217
Email: sharontan@smu.edu.sg
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