Singapore Management University: Singapore's Urban Business School
Attending Singapore Management University (SMU) was instrumental in shaping my experiences while abroad. SMU is an urban, multi-cultural learning hub designed to integrate the bustle of business with the drive for learning in Singapore. Unlike the two other universities in Singapore, SMU is incredibly urban. It is within walking distance of the city center, and offers the most activities compared to the other two school – Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS). SMU has five different schools (similar to how OSU has Fisher, the College of Arts and Sciences, etc.), all of which offer classes you can take as an exchange student. Compared to Ohio State, SMU was very small. Only about 8,000 students attend SMU, compared to OSU’s nearly 60,000. Being in the middle of the city, it didn’t feel that small, but it was still a stark contrast to OSU. The typical class size at SMU was 30-40 students. This includes the “intro” courses, which at OSU consist of hundreds of students in one lecture.
Courses at SMU are designed as modules, with one module consisting of roughly 3 OSU credit hours. While abroad, I took four courses: International Finance, Sociology of Terrorism, Introduction to Marketing, and Cultural Policy and Practice. My personal favorite was Sociology of Terrorism because it offered a unique perspective on terrorism versus the views I was used to seeing in the U.S. International Finance was incredibly difficult as an exchange student whose classes aren’t Pass/Fail. Though I passed this course, I chose to retake it at OSU to get a higher grade. Introduction to Marketing was similar to what I would expect an OSU class to be like. Cultural Policy and Practice was outside of my comfort zone as it was an intense dive into arts policy, but taught me the most about Singapore’s culture. Like at OSU, many of the professors had PhD’s or had strong institutional knowledge of their specialization. For example, my International Finance professors had both PhD’s and entrepreneurs who worked across international borders.
Classes at SMU had different formats than at Ohio State. I had one class on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and two classes on Thursday. Each class was 3.5 hours with a 15-minute break in the middle of class. Classes rarely, if ever, were let out early. If I wasn’t traveling on Monday or Friday, I would spend those days catching up on homework or studying for exams in the library. Typically, a course was structured so that a group project was the main focus of the class. There was also a final for each course I was in, but placed at the same time as the group project was due, so prior planning was essential. I tried to allocate all of the time on my weekends to exploring Singapore or other countries in Southeast Asia.
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