Singapore Management University (SMU) is a publicly-funded autonomous university. It was established in 2000, and is located in the Bras Basah-Bugis District. During its planning phase, SMU adopted an American-style business school model and in 1999 signed a collaboration agreement with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to guide curriculum and institutional design for the new university. The university is triple accredited by AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. In 2026, SMU was identified as the most improved university globally in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, with more than ten subjects ranked.
SMU enrols about 10,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programmes in accountancy, business administration, business analytics, economics, financial services, information systems, software engineering, law, and the social sciences.
The university is organised into eight schools: School of Accountancy, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, School of Economics, School of Computing and Information Systems, Yong Pung How School of Law, School of Social Sciences, College of Integrative Studies and the College of Graduate Research Studies.
History Founding
In 1997, the Government of Singapore began considering setting up a third university in Singapore. Ho Kwon Ping, a Singaporean business entrepreneur, was appointed to chair the task-force which determined that the new institution would follow the American university system featuring a more flexible broad-based education. Following a review of undergraduate business schools to serve as a model for SMU, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania emerged as the best candidate. The Wharton-SMU agreement was signed in February 1999 followed in June by the Wharton-SMU Research Center collaboration.
In July 1999, Janice Bellace, then Deputy Dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, commenced a two-year term as SMU's first president alongside founding provost, Tan Chin Tiong.
Early years and campus development In 2000, SMU admitted its first batch of students and began operations at the former Raffles College (now the National University of Singapore's Bukit Timah campus) on Evans Road near Hwa Chong Institution. The historic campus, first opened in 1929, had previously housed several educational institutions and served as the university's temporary home during its formative years. In 2001, SMU upgraded and occupied the main campus facilities, balancing the need to refit and refurbish it with facilities while preserving the heritage of colonial architecture.
Between 2000 and 2005, SMU established its first four schools, its library and three centres of excellence. It also saw the graduation of its first batch of students. During this period, Ronald Frank served as SMU's second president from 2001 to 2004, before being succeeded by Howard Hunter.
In 2005, SMU moved from its Bukit Timah campus to its current campus in the Bugis-Bras Basah district. The campus was developed as Singapore's first purpose-built city campus, with plans calling for the university to be integrated into the surrounding civic, cultural and business environment.
Expansion and development SMU has expanded its academic offerings in the following years. In 2007, it established its School of Law, later renamed as the Yong Pung How School of Law in 2021. In 2026, the School of Law was ranked 56th globally by the QS World University Rankings, improving from the 101-150 band in previous years. The former School of Economics and Social Sciences was subsequently reorganised into two separate schools: the School of Economics and the School of Social Sciences.
Additional schools were introduced over time, including the School of Information Systems, the School of Computing and Information Systems, and the College of Integrative Studies, reflecting the university's growing interdisciplinary focus and expansion into new fields of study.
Leadership and governance SMU is governed by a Board of Trustees and led by its president, who serves as the university's chief executive officer.name="SMUStakeholderReport2024"> Ho Kwon Ping served as the founding chairman of the Board. He was succeeded by Piyush Gupta in 2024.
Dr Richard Hu served as the university's founding chancellor. He was succeeded by Yong Pung How in 2010, followed by J. Y. Pillay in 2015 and Lim Chee Onn in 2019.
The university's presidents have been Janice Bellace (1999–2001), Ronald Frank (2001–2004), Howard Hunter (2004–2010), Arnoud De Meyer (2010–2018) and Lily Kong (2019–present). Kong became SMU's fifth president in January 2019 and is the first Singaporean female academic to hold the position.
Academics SMU follows a course credit system similar to that used in most American universities. Each individual course within the university is assigned a certain credit weightage and students are usually required to take a specified number of units to fulfill requirements for graduation. Courses are typically conducted as small group seminars of under 50 students. Undergraduate students may be enrolled in second majors as well as double degrees.
Admissions SMU admits students from a list of pre-university or high school qualifications that includes the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level, diplomas from the five polytechnics or two arts institutions and International Baccalaureate diploma once a year. For entry to graduate or master programmes, SMU requires GMAT and TOEFL or IELTS for most of the majors. Some majors also require submission of essays, recommendation letters, and a minimum work experience requirement.
Cirriculum SMU’s undergraduate curriculum includes a set of core modules taken by all students, covering areas such as ethics and modes of thinking. The university also offers prerequisite modules for certain degree requirements, depending on programme structure. SMU currently offers about 1,000 courses across its various schools.
The university requires undergraduates to complete an internship as part of their graduation requirements, providing students with work-based experience in their chosen fields. Its industry-oriented curriculum and mandatory internship requirement contribute to early workplace exposure. For the 2024 cohort, nearly 80 per cent of students completed more than one internship, with an average of 2.8 internships per student. Survey findings further indicated that 31.6 per cent of graduates who secured full-time employment obtained positions at organisations where they had previously interned.
Since 2018, SMU has required all undergraduates to complete an overseas experience as part of their graduation requirements. Eligible activities include exchange programmes, internships, study missions or community service projects. The university provides financial assistance to support students in fulfilling this requirement, including students from lower-income households.
Schools
School of Accountancy The School of Accountancy was launched in 2001 with the Bachelor of Accountancy (BAcc) undergraduate degree as its sole offering. In 2005, the school launched the Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) programme for professionals without undergraduate accounting qualifications.
Both the SMU MPA and BAcc are accredited with the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, Chartered Accountant Singapore, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), CPA Australia, the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia (ICAA) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
Lee Kong Chian School of Business
The Lee Kong Chian School of Business was SMU's first school, opening its doors to its pioneer batch of Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) students in August 2000. The school was named after the philanthropist Lee Kong Chian. In addition to its undergraduate offerings, the school offers masters degrees and PhDs.
School of Economics The School of Economics (SOE) was established in July 2002 as part of the then School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS). The SOE has a total of 51 full-time faculty with extensive experience from around the world. As of now, the SOE offers the Bachelor of Science (Economics) as well as Master of Science programmes in Economics and Applied Economics. In 2007, the school also introduced a PhD in Economics programme.
School of Computing and Information Systems
The School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS) was first formed as the School of Information Systems (SIS) with the aid of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).
In 2021, the school was rebranded as the School of Computing and Information Systems to reflect the larger focus on computing and software development in its offerings. Currently, the school offers four undergraduate degrees: Information Systems, Computer Science, Computing & Law, and Software Engineering.
In addition to its bachelor's degrees, SCIS also offers the Master of Science in Computer Science, Master of Philosophy in Information Systems, Master of IT in Business, the PhD in Information Systems/Computer Science and Doctor of Engineering (D.Eng.) programmes.
Yong Pung How School of Law
Originally named School of Law, the Yong Pung How School of Law (SOL) is SMU's smallest school with an annual intake of around 180 students. Before the establishment of the Yong Pung How School of Law, SMU offered an initial law programme that formed the basis for the later school. The programme was led by Andrew Phang, who served in the founding academic leadership of SMU’s early legal education initiatives. The School of Law was subsequently established as a full school within SMU as part of the university’s expansion of its legal education offerings. The establishment of the SOL was announced in August 2007. In 2022, Professor Lee Pey Woan was appointed Dean of the School of Law, succeeding Professor Goh Yihan.
On 11 April 2021, SMU renamed the school to include former chief justice Yong Pung How's name as a recognition for his founding contributions to the university.
The SOL offers the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) undergraduate programme, as well as a postgraduate Juris Doctor (JD) programme. The school also offers a Master of Laws (LLM) programme, with the option of a dual LLM with Queen Mary University of London.
School of Social Sciences
The School of Social Sciences (SOSS) was established in July 2002 as part of the then School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS). Through a restructuring exercise in 2007, the School of Economics and School of Social Sciences were separated to form independent schools within SMU. The SOSS's primary offering is the Bachelor of Social Science, a multi-disciplinary undergraduate programme. Within this programme, three main majors are offered, namely political science, psychology and sociology. In addition, the SOSS offers a PhD in Psychology.
College of Integrative Studies SMU was the first university in Singapore to offer an Individualised Major as part of its undergraduate curriculum. Through the College of Integrative Studies (CIS), students may design a customised major that integrates courses from multiple disciplines. Students spend their first year exploring different fields of study before declaring their major in the second year. During the first year, CIS students also take core and prerequisite modules, allowing them to remain aligned with peers in other SMU schools should they decide to transfer.
CIS welcomed its first cohort of students in academic year 2023–24.
College of Graduate Research Studies The College of Graduate Research Studies (CGRS) was established in 2022 as SMU's eighth school. The college oversees interdisciplinary graduate research education and coordinates doctoral and research master's programmes that span multiple academic disciplines.