While Singapore Management University (SMU) was started as a business school, since many of the faculty members were entrepreneurial academics and set up their own schools. Today, SMU has a school of economics, school of social sciences, school of information system, school of accountancy and school of law.
Dr Arnoud de Meyer, President, SMU, says that he attributes most of the success of SMU to the international outlook of the faculty — 40 per cent are from Singapore, while the rest are from all over the over. “Because of this, SMU has been able to attract some of the best faculty and researchers in the world, which helps establishing your reputation in the world.” he says.
Speaking about the monthly ‘sandwich lunch’ he has with his students, de Meyer recounts his journey to becoming the President of a university in Singapore, a place he hadn’t even known existed when he graduated after completing his degree in engineering. After completing his doctorate, his thesis advisor pushed him to publish some of his work. And that is how I got into academia, reluctantly. My students ask me this question often during the ‘monthly sandwich lunch’ I have with them,” de Meters says.
Listen to him speak in the podcast: