Tag: Singapore Management University

SMU‘s Seow Poh Sun, Associate Professor of Accounting (Education) and Associate Dean (Teaching and Curriculum) has been chosen as the first recipient of the European Accounting Association (EAA) Accounting Education Excellence Award.

The EAA Accounting Education Excellence Award seeks to highlight excellent practices in Accounting Education which address thought leadership in the field, innovation and cutting-edge practices in pedagogy, technology, and content.

“I believe that teaching is not just about knowledge transfer. It is about motivating and inspiring students to be curious and excited about learning. To inspire my students, I strive to ignite their interest by demonstrating its relevance in the real world. I believe that learning becomes a joy if I can ignite their interest to pursue knowledge,” says Assoc Prof Seow.

Assoc Prof Seow has done inspiring work in accounting education pedagogy. He is a passionate and creative educator who has contributed significantly to transforming accounting courses through technology-enabled learning and experiential-learning pedagogy. He was the co-creator of world’s first mobile-gaming app in Accounting (Accounting Challenge app, now known as SMU Challenge App), which has 40,006 downloads across 90 countries (as at 31st December 2021).

He also co-created a second gaming app known as the Red Flags Accounting Fraud in year 2019 to help students learn how to identify accounting fraud. To date, Red Flags has logged over 2,700 downloads, and students have reacted positively to the game.

In addition, he has created three online e-Learning tutorials; Resource-Event-Agent (REA) Data Modelling Business Process (Revenue Cycle) and Business Process (Expenditure Cycle) to teach Accounting Information System (AIS) courses. The REA online tutorial received the 2018 Outstanding Instructional Contribution Award from the American Accounting Association Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Section, in recognition of his development of original instructional materials.

Besides technology-enabled learning, Assoc Prof Seow has also designed a student-generated video project (“Using student-generated videos to learn internal controls”) to motivate students to use self-directed active learning. His work positively impacts student learning, and other faculty have rapidly adopted his practice innovations across the world. His work has been recognised extensively by the broader accounting education community, and he has a sustained track record of excellence along with international awards and scholarship outputs.

Anastasia Kopita, Chair of the EAA Education Committee, the Award Committee members made these remarks to Assoc Prof Seow, “We were “impressed by your inspiring work towards the improvement of accounting education pedagogy, your significant contribution to technology-enabled learning and your sustained track record of excellence along with international awards, scholarship outputs and recognition from the accounting education community.”

Professor Cheng Qiang, Dean of SOA, said, “Assoc Professor Seow has inspired many professors and students with his innovative teaching methods. Indeed, we are very proud that he has received yet another international award and we will continue to implement innovative pedagogical practices in our curriculum.”

Assoc Prof Seow, when accepting the award said, “This award would not have been possible without the support of many colleagues. I would like to give special thanks to Professor Stewart Leech and Professor Steve Sutton for writing the support letters. I am also grateful to my Dean, Professor Cheng Qiang, and SMU Centre for Teaching Excellence for supporting and funding my various teaching pedagogy projects. I will continue to explore ways to maximise engagement with my students and create a nurturing learning environment for them.”

In 2018, Emeritus Professor Arnoud De Meyer, then President of the Singapore Management University (SMU), reflected on the fact that Singapore had built an excellent and diverse system of higher education in less than 30 years in a conversation with the Ministry of Education (MOE)’s Permanent Secretary Lai Chung Han, Minister Ong Ye Kung and some colleagues.

Shortly after, he received an invitation from MOE to document the system of university education in Singapore. He accepted the challenge and went on to collect primary research from more than 30 interviews and conversations with the decision-makers and leaders in higher education in Singapore and in-depth desk research, together with the support of Dr Jovina Ang, who is his co-author of the book, “Building Excellence in Higher Education: Singapore’s Experience”.

The book which proposes five major drivers behind Singapore’s success and provides recommendations for the future in Singapore’s higher education landscape was officially launched on 21 February 2022 at the SMU Li Ka Shing Library. The hybrid event which saw 50 guests at the venue was graced by Minister of Education, Mr Chan Chun Sing. SMU Provost, Professor Timothy Clark gave the Welcome Address, and capping the event with an insightful Q&A session with Prof De Meyer, was moderator Annie Koh, Professor Emeritus of Finance.

In his remarks, Prof De Meyer highlighted the five key drivers. The first driver is that the system was designed to be fit for purpose. The creation of the six autonomous universities is aligned with the socio-economic development of Singapore. The universities are quite different from each other, and they offer full time programmes, programmes where work and study are combined, as well as part-time programmes for students who already work, like at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

The second driver is the very significant investment in R&D, and the shift of research funding towards the universities. These resources combined with a very open environment to attract some of the best researchers in the world helped the universities us to jumpstart and rapidly develop their research capabilities.

A successful model of the autonomous university as a governance model was cited as the third driver. First experimented with in SMU, it was generalised in the mid-2000s to the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and then later adopted at the creation of Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and SUSS. There are many positive consequences of this model, among others that universities have developed in different ways, thus offering diversity to the Singapore students. The boards had a real governance role with strong fiduciary responsibilities, which also stimulated healthy competition.

The fourth driver was Singapore’s willingness to learn from others. All universities, including the oldest one, have had significant and performing partnerships with overseas institutions. SMU with Wharton, SUTD with MIT and Zhejiang University, NUS with Duke, Peabody and Yale, NYU with Imperial College, and SIT with a whole portfolio of institutions.

Lastly, success came from the flexibility in implementation and the continuity in the leadership. Dr Tony Tan, who as Minister for Education, DPM, Chair of the NSF and in many other roles promoted higher learning and research had said, “we had a rough terrain road map. But along the way the map was adjusted and evolved”.

Drawing from a phrase from the book – “fit for purpose”, Minister Chan offered some insights on how universities must be positioned for the future:

1. Governance of the higher education sector and the development of leadership teams must be fit for the times. Our universities’ governance systems and leadership teams must keep up with the complex task of leading and managing large numbers of staff and students, wide-ranging disciplines, and sizeable budgets.

2. Our Institutions of Higher Learning must evolve into Institutes for Continual Learning, to keep pace with the world. This calls for a more agile education and training system – one that allows Singaporeans to have multiple points of re-entry into the education system, to continually acquire and master the skills needed to meet changing needs.

3. The third thrust to prepare students for a fast-evolving workplace, is closing the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) cycle. This means a closed cycle where research informs industry solutions, and where leading industry skills and knowledge also reach the labs and classrooms. The cycle must be compressed, for Singapore to remain at the cutting edge.

Concluding his speech, Minister Chan said, “For Singapore to succeed, Singaporeans must adopt the mindset of learning for the rest of our lives and learning throughout life. Our universities will support this bigger societal shift.”

Prof De Meyer echoed similar sentiments, “We have attained an excellent level of higher education in Singapore. But the world is dynamic, and what is today’s top performance may not be so in the coming years. We need to keep learning from other experiences and overseas institutions. I hope that we can keep the openness that we have had over the last thirty years, that we can keep organising collaboration with other institutions, and that we can keep bringing back successful Singapore academics and bring in top quality foreign scientists to fuel the development of our system of higher education.”

SMU’s School of Accountancy (SoA) has achieved excellent and unprecedented ratings according to the latest Brigham Young University (BYU) Accounting Research Rankings 2021 (released in February 2022). The School is now ranked first in the world for Citation Rankings, Archival Research (All Topics) and Archival Research (Financial Accounting). In addition, it is also first in Asia for All Areas and All Discipline Research, climbing to 7th in the world in the overall main rankings.

The rankings place the School of Accountancy in the league of top universities in the world, and ahead of University of Pennsylvania, University of Toronto and University of Washington.

Acclaimed as an objective and key ranking to watch for in accounting research, the BYU Accounting Research Rankings are based on award winning research and rankings are based on classifications of peer reviewed articles in 12 accounting journals since 1990, which in turn determines university ranking based on authors’ affiliation. Researchers at BYU measure the intellectual contribution of accounting faculty members at all institutions in the world. They go through publications in the top peer-reviewed accounting journals and rank departments or schools in the recent years based on the number of publications.

A high ranking signals that SMU has the highest research productivity in the top peer-reviewed journals as compared to other peer schools worldwide, particularly in the fields that SMU’s SoA emphasises – archival accounting research. In particular, emerging world number one in the Citation Rankings for a second consecutive year represents the strong influence of SoA’s academic research in the field of accounting. As a citation represents a form of acknowledgment that one research paper gives to another existing piece of published research, citation analysis has widely been viewed as a means to assess the research impact generated by that original body of work.

Associate Dean (Research) of School of Accountancy, Lee Kong Chian Professor Zhang Liandong says, “Accounting research plays an important role in connecting educators, industry practitioners, and regulators to shape the future of the accounting profession. At SMU School of Accountancy, we are committed to taking the lead in accounting research and translating this knowledge into innovative approaches to teaching and practice. Our strong performance at this year’s BYU Rankings signals that we are moving closer to achieving this mission.”

Under the leadership of Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor Cheng Qiang, who has been Dean of the School since July 2015, the SoA’s reputation for its high quality research has grown and it has achieved robust rankings. He says, “Once again, we have achieved the number one position in Citation Rankings in the world. In addition, we have taken top spot in two other categories – Archival Research (All Topics) and Archival Research (Financial Accounting) – and this has helped us climb to seventh spot in the world in the overall rankings. I am extremely proud of the dedication and commitment of all our faculty members, and this is a testament to the high standards of accounting research and education of SMU’s School of Accountancy.”

SMU strongly encourages the research faculty to publish in the best academic journals to demonstrate the expertise and findings of our academics. In 2021 alone, the SoA faculty published 12 articles in the top five journals[1], a rare feat for any accounting department or school.

The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) has conferred the prestigious Raymond Katzell Award to Professor David Chan, Director of the Behavioural Sciences Initiative and Professor of Psychology of the Singapore Management University (SMU) for his outstanding contributions in using scientific research to address social issues and make a difference to people and society.

Professor Chan, who makes history for being both the first Singaporean and the first Asian to receive this top award, will receive the award and deliver his keynote address at the Annual SIOP conference to be held this April in the United States.

In addition to recognising the wide-ranging impact of Professor Chan’s lifetime scientific and practical contributions, the awards committee highlighted his societal contributions on managing the COVID-19 pandemic in various ways and in particular his bestseller book, Combating a crisis, which explains the psychology of Singapore’s response to COVID-19. The book, published by World Scientific in 2020, is a clear example of using science to address social issues and solve practical problems for policymakers, organisations, and the general public.

Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme, offered by the University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB), advanced seven spots to be ranked 51st in the Financial Times’ (FT) 2022 Global Ranking. Significantly, SMU’s MBA programme excelled in indicators such as ‘Environmental, social and governance (ESG)[1]’, leaping to 20th spot, as well as in the area of being ‘value-for-money’[2].

The ranking also places LKCSB firmly in the top 50 for its world-leading research.

The newly released FT Global MBA Ranking reflects the efforts made by the programme to sustain the long-term career success of its students, by ensuring that they are fully attuned to the changing needs of today’s world. With a burgeoning demand worldwide for ESG investing, the MBA programme’s efforts to curate and integrate ESG-related topics and project hours into its curriculum, received a nod of recognition. The MBA programme advanced 75 spots to rank 20th in the surveyed field of ‘ESG’ this year.

The MBA programme’s commitment to sustainability in its teaching underscores SMU’s strategic priority area of ‘Sustainable Living’. Through this area of focus, the University seeks to drive solutions in managing climate change and sustainable city living, enhancing quality of life, as well as to shape legal, regulatory and financing frameworks to build healthier and happier societies.

In tandem with using compelling teaching materials for a robust curriculum, LKCSB was also recognised for its world-leading research, measured by research articles published in leading academic journals. These efforts allowed the MBA programme to jump 14 spots to rank 43rd in the surveyed field of ‘FT research rank’[3].

Since its inception in 2009, the SMU MBA programme has consistently delivered value to its students. In the surveyed field of ‘value-for-money’, which measured the average alumni salary three years after graduation as a fraction of their MBA’s total cost, the programme was rated 25th in the world, up from 31st spot last year. Alumni of the programme reported a weighted salary[4] of US$121,907.

“We are glad to see our efforts recognised by the FT. This ranking reinforces the global stature of our MBA programme, where our world-leading faculty engage our students with an engaging and relevant curriculum, ensuring that they are equipped to become future leaders in an ever-changing world. We will continue to work closely with the business sector and to deliver a rigorous programmme that arms graduates with the resilience, resourcefulness and creativity to further advance their careers,” said Professor Bert De Reyck, Dean of SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business.

SMU LKCSB was one of the youngest business schools in the world and the only Singaporean business school, in 2018, to achieve ‘Triple Crown’ accreditation. This distinction of being triple accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), AMBA and European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS), is held by a very select group of business schools around the world.

About the SMU MBA programme

Started in 2009, the SMU MBA is well recognised as a programme that offers a purposefully planned curriculum with an Asian perspective, delivered by a strong faculty panel with extensive teaching and industry track record. To cater to the changing needs of busy professionals, SMU offers flexibility in allowing for its full-time MBA programme to be completed in 10 months or in 15 months, while the part-time MBA programme can be completed between 15 months or 18 months.

The programme comprises real-world learning from a blend of award-winning case studies on Asian and best practices of Western companies, interactive seminar-style pedagogy and exposure to an internationally diverse faculty. The curriculum is constantly updated to ensure that the programme keeps pace with the changes in its environment. The SMU MBA programme prepares our students to be digitally ready, analytics savvy and ESG conscious as well as responsible economic citizens.

Students also benefit from the opportunities to engage with outstanding leaders from the business community, and an immersive and international learning experience comprising overseas exchanges and Overseas Immersion Programme (OIP). Post graduation, MBA students are offered the option of enrolling in complimentary MBA elective classes at SMU, to keep up with industry trends and take advantage of learning opportunities.

About the FT Global MBA Ranking 2022

FT’s closely watched annual ranking, now in its 24th year, ranks a total of 100 full-time MBA programmes from countries around the globe, according to multiple criteria such as career progression and salary of alumni, and the diversity of students and faculty. The ranking considers the features of the institutions and their programmes and is based on surveys of the business schools and their graduates.

[1] ESG: proportion of teaching hours from core courses dedicated to ethics, social and environmental issues.

[2] Value for money: calculated using salary today, course length, tuition and other costs, including lost income during the MBA.

[3] FT research rank: calculated according to the number of articles published by current full-time faculty members in 50 selected academic and practitioner journals between January 2019 and July 2021. The FT50 rank combines the absolute number of publications with the number weighted relative to the faculty’s size.

[4] Weighted salary US$: average alumnus salary three years after completion, US$ PPP equivalent, with adjustment for variations between sectors.

A new study by SMU’s Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA) revealed that nearly 1 in 3 of Singapore’s older adults surveyed in October 2021 did not feel mentally prepared for living with an endemic COVID-19.

Older adults who did not trust the government’s response to the COVID-19 situation in Singapore were four times more likely to feel unprepared.

Findings from the study suggest that the level of trust that older adults have in the government significantly shapes the level of perceived infection and mortality risk from COVID-19. With the emergence of the transmissible Omicron strain and predicted surge in the number of cases in Singapore in the coming weeks, researchers suggest for authorities to keep in mind that maintaining trust in the government is an important means to reducing the perceived risk of infection and mortality, a likely source of stress for older adults.

“As Singapore transits from pandemic to endemic COVID-19, we must ensure that all social groups are well-prepared and supported. ROSA has found that among older adults, maintaining trust in the government is an important factor in ensuring preparedness. This emphasises how important it is for all Singaporeans to work together in transitioning to the endemic phase – we must remain a cohesive society so that nobody is left behind in this transition,” said Professor Paulin Straughan, Director, ROSA.

ROSA’s report, titled, “Older Adult Preparedness for Living with Endemic Covid-19” uses data from the Singapore Life Panel®, a population representative monthly survey of Singaporeans aged 56-75 (inclusive) in 2021 that has been conducted since 2015. The SLP has an average response rate of about 7,200 respondents per month and is web-based, allowing respondents to participate even during periods of full or partial social lockdown.

Full details of the report can be accessed here.

Key findings and recommendations:

1. Mental Preparedness for living with an endemic COVID-19

· About 30% of older adults felt ‘Not at all prepared’ or ‘Not too well prepared’ mentally for living with an endemic COVID-19.

· Older adults who did not trust the government’s response to the COVID-19 situation in Singapore at all were four times more likely to feel ‘Not at all’ or ‘Not too well’ prepared mentally for living with an endemic COVID-19 as compared to respondents who trusted the government’s response completely.

· Due to the central role the government plays as a primary source of authoritative information on the pandemic, older adults with less trust in the government may be more inclined to mistrust pandemic information put forth by the government. With a lack of reliable sources to inform themselves with, these older adults may feel more uncertain and less prepared for the endemic. (Refer to Pages 5-7 of the report for details)

2. Willingness to get booster shot

· Only 2.92% of respondents stated that they did not intend to get a booster shot.

· The top 3 reasons for not wanting to get a booster shot have to do with concerns about the safety and efficacy of the booster shot.

· Respondents who had already gotten their booster shot in November 2021 were twice as likely to trust the government’s response to the COVID-19 situation as compared to respondents who did not intend to receive the booster shot. (Refer to Pages 7-10 of the report for details)

3. Opinions on Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs)

· 86.7% reported some level of concern about the possible spread of COVID-19 from incoming tourists via VTLs.

· Respondents who were less trusting of the government were more concerned about an increase in COVID-19 transmission via VTLs – respondents who did not trust the government’s response to the COVID-19 situation at all were almost twice as likely to be moderately or very concerned about COVID-19 transmission via VTLs, as compared to respondents who trusted the government’s response completely. (Refer to Pages 16-18 of the report for details)

Based on the findings listed above, ROSA makes two general policy recommendations for consideration (Refer to Pages 20-22 of the report for details):

1. The findings highlight the importance of maintaining older adults’ trust in the government’s response to COVID-19 in preparing and helping them to live with an endemic COVID-19. Authorities can adopt several strategies in order to do this, including providing clear and consistent messaging with regards to issues relating to COVID-19, as well as transparency in and accountability for COVID-19 policies that are enacted.

2. More can be done in, firstly, further educating older adults on what living with an endemic COVID-19 would mean for them, and secondly, providing older adults with the necessary resources to cope with living with an endemic COVID-19, such as organising and developing social activities for older adults that can still be run in spite of restrictions.

The Singapore Management University’s (SMU) teaching case on sustainability scored a win at the Financial Times (FT) Responsible Business Education Awards 2022. SMU is the only Singaporean university to be acknowledged at this category of the Awards, which recognises the best teaching cases published in the past three years with sustainability and climate change as key learning objectives.

SMU’s winning case, titled “Growing a Global Forest: Ant Financial, Alipay, and the Ant Forest”, which explores sustainability and climate change through a pragmatic analysis of Alipay’s green initiatives, won in the award category of “Teaching Cases on Sustainability”.

Penned by faculty members and a student from SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB), Ryan Merrill, Hannah H. Chang, Liang Hao, and Lan Yang, in collaboration with case writer Adina Wong from SMU Centre for Management Practice, the case promoted interdisciplinary learning and flexibility in discussions that students enjoyed.

Another team from SMU, comprising Professor Emeritus of Finance (Practice) Annie Koh, Flocy Joseph, Head of Commercial at SMU Executive Development and Cheah Sin Mei, Senior Case Writer of the SMU Centre for Management Practice, was awarded runner-up in the same award category for their entry, “Bold and Responsible Leadership in Uncharted Waters: The Future of BW Tankers”.

“We are delighted that we have two SMU case studies featured in this prestigious award. It speaks to the dedication and hard work that our faculty and CMP writers put into developing teaching cases for educators worldwide. It also recognises SMU’s commitment to sustainability in our teaching,” said Dr Havovi Joshi, Director, SMU Centre for Management Practice.

“We are also heartened that our efforts to focus on uncovering Asia-centric cases are paying off. It tells us that the educators are looking for compelling teaching materials that can speak about the need to understand the unique contexts in which businesses and organisations grapple with pressing issues, such as nurturing sustainability and resolving eco-dilemmas.”

SMU’s runner-up case on BW Tankers delved into the diverse complexities faced by the maritime sector, with issues such as stringent regulatory standards, an evolving business environment, and the rise of disruptive technologies. Like the winning case on Alipay, both underscore SMU’s strategic priority area of Sustainable Living. Through this area of focus, the University seeks to drive solutions in managing climate change and sustainable city living, enhancing quality of life.

Dr Flocy Joseph commented, “Our LKCSB undergraduates in the Maritime track, as well as maritime officials from across the world in our Executive Development Programmes, leveraged on this case to discuss the strategy of BW’s growth and the vision of the BW leader. On a few occasions, we had the protagonist of the case join us during the discussions, which brought the case alive and gave our learners a better idea of the kind of bold and responsible leadership that led to BW’s ongoing success.”

The FT’s Responsible Business Education Awards 2022 recognises the outstanding work by researchers, teachers and alumni of business schools in making an impact around sustainability and social purpose. The Awards comprise three categories with a common theme of identifying strong examples of work by business schools, seeking to focus on people and planet alongside profit.