SMU aims to prepare students as future sustainability leaders and active global citizens through transformative education and holistic learning experience. We will ensure that every undergraduate (UG) student has a foundational understanding of sustainability, as encapsulated in the UNSDGs, through implementing a sustainability course requirement. We will be the first University in Singapore, and possibly Asia, to put the spotlight on sustainability in UG curriculum and co-curriculum, and this integration across the two areas is designed to result in a transformational impact on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours.
Related United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (UNSDGs)
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education
- The Sustainability major by the Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKSCB), launched in 2020, answers the call for young graduates to be well versed in sustainability issues and to be equipped to make meaningful impact. This second major, the first of its kind in Singapore, was designed to train students to be well versed in sustainability issues and equip them to make meaningful impact on sustainability matters.
- LKCSB also offers a Sustainability Track as part of its Master of Science in Management programme.
- LKCSB administers sponsored sustainability fellowships, scholarships, study missions, and social enterprise development through the DBS-SMU Sustainability Initiative.
- The School of Social Sciences (SOSS) Politics, Law and Economics major launched a new Sustainable Futures track from AY2022/23. The track provides an in-depth understanding of sustainability issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective.
- The SMU Global Summer Programme (GSP) introduced a new Sustainable Futures track starting from the 2023 programme edition. This new track provides students with the opportunity to gain relevant industry insights into the multifaceted field of Sustainability, empowering them with more options for their future careers.
Professional and Continuing Education
- SMU Academy has rolled out new Sustainability programmes, including:
- SMU Executive Development offers Sustainability-focused programmes for Executives, including:
SMU-X
Companies increasingly seek to be more sustainable, but many firms struggle to operationalise it within their supply chain or to translate the theoretical concepts into practical value for customers.
More SMU-X Courses on Sustainability
Examples of Sustainability Courses and Programmes
All courses and programmes in SMU are evaluated with assessment and quizzes that are made available to all students via our online learning platform.
- Heated Debates: Climate Justice
- Climate History & Society
- Climate Change: Global and Local Solutions
- Technological Innovations Enhancing Urban Sustainability
- Sustainability Accounting and Reporting
- Sustainability Management & Governance
- Sustainable Entrepreneurship/Practicum
- Organisational Aspects of Sustainable Innovation
- Sustainable Operations
- Sustainable Finance
- Environmental Economics
- Sustainable Digital Cities
- Smart City Operations Research
- Sustainability Law and Policy
- Climate Change Law and Policy
- Development, Underdevelopment and Poverty
- Social Stratification & Inequality
- Environmental Politics & Policy
- Sociology of Education
- SkillsFuture Career Transition Programme (SCTP) on Sustainability Advanced Certificate in Leading Sustainability for the Future: The Future of Work through a Sustainable Lens
- Advanced Certificate in Sustainability and Sustainable Businesses
- Certificate in Impact Investing and Mega Trends in Sustainability
- Transforming Small and Medium Enterprises: Strategic Sustainable Development
- Climate, History, Society
- Digital Technologies for Environmental Sustainability
- Innovations for Asia’s Smart Cities
- Psychology of Sustainability
- Sustainability Accounting and Reporting
- Sustainability, Multinational Corporations, and International Economic Law
Scholarships and Grants
DBS Sustainability Scholarship
Established in 2019, the DBS Sustainability Scholarship is available to full-time undergraduates at the Singapore Management University. It seeks to attract the best undergraduate students with a view to creating impact for sustainability in Singapore.
DBS Sustainability Business Study Mission Grant
The DBS Sustainability Business Study Mission Grant, funded by the Initiative, aims to provide financial support to financially-challenged students participating in the study mission.
Equinix Sustainability Scholarship
Established in 2021, the Equinix Sustainability Scholarship is available to full-time undergraduates at the Singapore Management University. It is aimed at motivating outstanding undergraduates who want to expand their learning across traditional academic disciplines by taking on a major in Sustainability, offered by the Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB).
For the full list of sustainability-related financial aid, please visit SMU Admissions website.
Moving forward, SMU’s new sustainability education framework for curriculum and co-curriculum will guide future initiatives, so that all SMU students will be equipped with baseline sustainability mastery, with additional opportunities to access a fuller range of courses that offer different levels of mastery of sustainability literacy, according to their personal and professional interests. At the same time, we have also updated the Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLOs) for SMU students, emphasising that the understanding of sustainability issues is instrumental to becoming engaged global citizens.
Embed Sustainability Education Across the Curriculum
SMU’s sustainability education framework offers opportunities for foundational, intermediate, and advanced mastery of sustainability issues.
Sustainability Education Framework
Level of Mastery
Learning Outcomes
Foundational Mastery
Intermediate Mastery
Depth: Have a deep understanding of a particular sustainability issue (as identified in the UNSDGs)
OR
Application: Be able to identify issues with sustainability implications within a discipline and make decisions/ recommendations in favour of sustainability
Be able to plan, implement, evaluate, and replicate decisions/ recommendations in favour of sustainability in relation to a particular sustainability issue (as identified in the UNSDGs)
Advanced Mastery
Have a multi-disciplinary perspective of sustainability and be able to:
Propose solution to sustainability problems by applying concepts and tools from different disciplines
Drive and promote solutions to a particular sustainability issue (as identified in the UNSDGs)
Timothy Clark
Provost, SMU
The following initiatives will be implemented:
- Enable all students (Undergraduate and Postgraduate) to acquire sustainability knowledge at the foundational level, where they will understand what sustainability and the SDGs are.
- Develop foundational sustainability education digital resources for all freshmen access.
- Increase the number of PG Professional Development (PGPD) workshops to enhance awareness of sustainability issues.
- Encourage all SMU students to develop a deeper understanding of specific sustainability issues as identified in the SDGs.
- Nurture students to be able to identify issues with sustainability implications within a discipline and make decisions or recommendations in favour of sustainability.
- Put in place a sustainability graduation requirement for incoming cohorts of UG students from 2024 onwards.
- Continue to grow sustainability-focused courses in the core options and majors.
- Increase opportunities to address sustainability related issues in SMU’s experiential learning (SMU-X) courses and overseas study missions.
- Develop several shared sustainability-focused courses for all PG Professional (PGPP) students regardless of their disciplines.
Integrate Sustainability into SMU Co-Curriculum
SMU’s sustainability education framework extends beyond curriculum and recognises that effective learning also occurs through co-curriculum activities. Several initiatives will be rolled out to integrate foundational, intermediate, and advanced levels of mastery in sustainability into our co-curriculum.
Level of Mastery and Learning Outcomes |
|---|
| Foundation Mastery |
| All SMU Community Service activities are socially conscious and sustainable in nature and involve planning, implementing, evaluating, and replicating decisions in favour of sustainability. |
| Intermediate Mastery |
| SMU will continue to enhance awareness of sustainability within internship opportunities for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. |
| Advanced Mastery |
SMU will curate the following programmes for student participation and leadership development in the sustainability domain.
|
A few sustainability-focused projects include:
‘Project Sparks in the Hearth’ has been collaborating with the Catholic Welfare Services since Oct 2021 to reach out to rough sleepers on SMU campus and the neighbouring Jalan Besar vicinity. This project aims to combat prejudices and correct misconceptions about rough sleepers and the homeless.
‘Project Midori’ will be partnering the SMU Office of Campus Infrastructure and Services this year to support university-wide waste management initiatives. The team will help to raise awareness of SMU’s and its tenants’ green efforts, and encourage the SMU community to cut down food waste on campus. Our donor CDL has approved $42,500 from the CDL Young SDG Leaders Fund @ SMU to be utilised for the project’s efforts in 2022.
‘Project Stop Single-Use Disposables (SSUD)’ aims to increase the level of environmental sustainability awareness of the SMU community through a series of activities such as social media challenges on 5Rs & BYOs, eco trade-in programme, webinars, and workshops to encourage the adoption of new habits against single-used items. The team has organised six signature workshops and talks between 2021 and 2022, with invited speakers from Green Nudge, The Plastic Project, Package Pals, ZerowasteSG, and a sustainability case competition in partnership with Alumna Joline Tang, founder of the Sustainability Project.
‘Project Ket Noi VI’ partnered with Coins for Change Vietnam, an NGO that aids disenfranchised single mothers and children throughout Vietnam from Dec 2021 to Jan 2022. In Dec 2022, the project will continue its second engagement with the NGO to support its efforts to empower the single mothers to continue learning and growing their business skills so as to reinforce their self-sufficiency.
DID YOU KNOW?
SMU students get to visit regional centres of excellence in sustainability, engage in experiential learning opportunities, and develop skills like critical thinking and practical application in the DBS Sustainability Business Study Mission.
Play Your Part in Sustainability
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Check out our SMU-X courses
- Develop a proposal for ‘Sustainability graduation requirement’ for UG students (aligned to Sustainability Education @ SMU framework).
- Develop compulsory foundational sustainability education digital resources for all freshmen (aligned to Sustainability Education @ SMU framework); all UG students to achieve foundational level of mastery.
- Grow the enrolment of the existing 2nd major in Sustainability by LKCSB.
- Develop a proposal for a new SOSS UG major in Sustainable Communities/Societies.
- Infuse Sustainability concepts and C4SR Sustainability Framework into all Community Service Units.
- Launch the SMU Pathfinders Overseas Sustainability Changemakers Programme for student leadership development in sustainability.
- Organise, with student sustainability leaders, a signature Sustainability-focused forum that showcases sustainability efforts and projects by the SMU community.
Last updated: 6 September 2022