[16 March 2006]
New Fast Track SMU-Carnegie Mellon Programme offered under National Infocomm Scholarship

Singaporeans now have a chance to pursue Infocomm studies locally as well as in one of the leading American universities in the field of information technology in a first-ever collaboration in Infocomm education. As announced by Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Dr Lee Boon Yang on 3 March 2006, an extra 100 scholarships worth S$30 million will be offered by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore to boost the strength of Singapore's skilled Infocomm manpower to compete in the vibrant Infocomm industry. The expanded scholarships will include up to 40 positions for a special fast-track Singapore Management University-Carnegie Mellon University programme under the National Infocomm Scholarship. The programme will allow Singapore Management University (SMU) students to graduate within four to four and a half years with both a Bachelor of Science (Information Systems Management) degree from SMU and a Master's degree with a specialisation in one area of IT from Carnegie Mellon University. This would have normally taken up to five to five and a half years to complete under the conventional route.

During the first two years at SMU, scholars will take a mixture of IT, business and liberal arts foundation courses with the School of Information Systems where they will gain both the soft skills and technical expertise through SMU's unique business-oriented IT curriculum. Scholars are required to undergo internship at an infocomm company during or after their second year. They will spend the third year at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh , United States where they will continue to fulfill course requirements for SMU's Bachelor of Science (Information Systems Management). On the fourth year, scholars will commence on the master's programme in one of seven areas of specialisation ranging from information technology, information systems management, information networking to information security. Please see Annex for details on the undergraduate and master's phases of the programme.

A strategic partnership and working relationship has existed between SMU's School of Information Systems and Carnegie Mellon University since January 2003. At that time, SMU entered into an agreement with Carnegie Mellon to work together to design and establish the School of Information Systems' educational and research programmes. Through this ongoing relationship, this fast-track programme was developed to support IDA's national strategy to attract top pre-university student talent into the area of information technology. The SMU-Carnegie Mellon partnership is also open selectively to other students who are not under the National Infocomm Scholarship programme.

Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said, “This collaboration among SMU, Carnegie Mellon and IDA is of great strategic significance. The attraction and development of top Infocomm talents in Singapore are key to our ambition to be Asia 's innovation hub.”

“Carnegie Mellon's leadership position in global IT education is enhanced by excellent partners. Singapore Management University students will be extremely successful at Carnegie Mellon because we share an emphasis on collaboration, innovation and excellence in education,” said Mark S. Kamlet, Provost and Senior Vice President, Carnegie Mellon University.

“The School of Information Systems in SMU produces a new breed of business-oriented IT professionals who have depth in both business analysis and IT solutions design. This combined SMU bachelors and Carnegie Mellon masters will produce a very distinctive professional with deep training in a hybrid of skills who will be extremely sought after in the new infocomm sector. We are looking forward to this first-of-a-kind collaboration with Carnegie Mellon to groom the best and brightest for the industry under the auspices of the National Infocomm Scholarship,” said Professor Steven Miller, Dean, School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University.

About Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon is a private research university in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania ( United States ) with a distinctive mix of programmes in computer science, robotics, engineering, the sciences, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions to solve real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. Carnegie Mellon has campuses in California and Qatar and is expanding its presence in Europe and Asia with master's programmes and other educational partnerships. For more information, visit www.cmu.edu.

About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is committed to growing Singapore into a dynamic global infocomm hub. IDA uses an integrated approach to developing info-communications in Singapore. This involves nurturing a competitive telecoms market as well as a conducive business environment with programmes and schemes for both local and international companies. For more news and information, visit www.idanews.gov.sg. Alternatively, for more information on the Infocomm manpower initiatives, please visit www.singaporeinfocomm.sg.

Please refer to Annex for fact sheet on new fast track SMU-Carnegie Mellon programme.