SMU has set aside $7.28 million in the new academic year, as financial assistance for students. The University has announced that it will welcome 2383 freshmen this year – its largest cohort to date – with 296 scholarships and bursaries that freshmen can apply for in the new academic year. The Vingroup of Vietnam has pledged to contribute S$10 million to SMU to set up a scholarship to nurture Vietnamese technology talents. Under a Memorandum of Intent signed on Aug 16, up to twelve scholarships per year will be offered till Academic Year 2023/2024. SMU President Professor Lily Kong said, “This gift is a strong testament of the confidence Vingroup has in our programmes.”
Two new courses that freshmen will take on this year are “Economics and Society”, in the Communities pillar of the new Core Curriculum, and “Big Questions”, in the Civilisations pillar. SMU undergraduates will also have the opportunity to take up new offerings introduced for the first time in the forthcoming academic year which include the Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree (offered by the School of Information Systems), Second Major in Data Science and Analytics (offered by the School of Economics) and the Maritime Business Operations Track (offered by the Lee Kong Chian School of Business).