SMU - The New Educational Environment
(SMU 5-Year Commemorative Book 2006)

School of Information Systems

In October 2002, the Ministry of Education approved SMU's request to launch the School of lnformation Systems as the fourth academic unit of the University. SMU worked out a four-year Memorandum of Understanding with Carnegie Mellon University to collaborate on the design and establishment of the new School.

The design team created a roadmap
for a new BSc (Information Systems Management) undergraduate curriculum targeted to produce Business lnformation Technology professionals who would thrive in the post-dot.com "new world order". Practice Professor Steven Miller, Dean of the School, says, "We really wanted to be different. We want to be inspired by management issues and we want a culture and mode of operation
that resemble an engineering school."

It was decided the programme would have a strong emphasis on business processes, solution architecture and design, solution assembly, project management and business value creation. Soft skills related to learning-to-learn, collaboration, and working across cultures and countries would also be emphasised.

"We have a social contract to nurture students who want to wok at the interface of technology and business," explains Professor Miller. "We need to give them both the technology and the management skills required to use information technology in innovative ways and to generate business value and advantage."

The School's undergraduate programme has a unique composition. One-third of the courses are from the school and focus on the technology and management aspects of information systems. Another third give students depth in a second major area. This is offered through SMU's three other schools. The remaining one-third of courses are taken from the common core and foundation curriculum.

	"We want a strong link between what we do and the uses and possibilities in industry. For example, how can we use data management and communications techniques to impact supply chain profitability?" Practice Professor Steven Miller Dean, School of lnformation Systems
Professor Miller emphasises: "What we really want to do is to give our students interest, curiosity and skills so they can take the building blocks of information technology and business processes and put them together in new and interesting ways. Along the way, they also learn how to look at the world in an imaginative way, and ask how it can be different." Undergraduate John Lui, one of the pioneer students of the School, says, "One of the skills I've learnt from my professors is not only to look for correct answers, but also to be able to ask the right questions." The School attracts a balanced mix of students from Singapore's junior colleges and polytechnics, as well as international students. "The melding of these disparate groups into one whole is amazing to watch," comments Practice Professor Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, who is also the Associate Dean for Student Programmes and External Relations.

"Every time we deliver a course, we get feedback from the students on how we can refine it. Our courses evolve over time and that's really important." Practice Professor Arcot Desai Narasimhalu Associate Dean for Student Programmes and External Relations, School of lnformation Systems

The combination of information technology and management, along with the diverse student body, has created an interesting environment at the School of lnformation Systems. Mrs Teng Soon Lang, Executive Vice President of OCBC Bank, one of the School's industry partners, says, "I'm impressed with the SMU students I have interacted with. They are well rounded and eloquent, and have demonstrated confidence in expressing their own opinions." OCBC is one of over 60 companies that have provided students of the School with internships in the first two years of the undergraduate programme. Mrs Teng believes that internships give students an important insight into working life, and that interns should come before their final year when they're not yet burdened with looking for a job.

Professor Miller explains that undergraduate students are encouraged to seek their first internship early so that they can experience the complexities of technical, organisational and people-related problems in real-world settings.

The School is looking forward to launching a graduate PhD research programme and to continuing its track record of bringing together information technology business applications and information systems management in innovative ways.

Its faculty has established research in the following areas: data management and business intelligence, information security and trust, business software and architecture, e-commerce and supply chain systems, and information systems resource management.

Above: Faculty of the School of Information Systems and students.