SMU Enhances Career Readiness Through New Transcript and Ongoing Support

Singapore Management University (SMU) once again committed to preparing students and alumni with resilience and skills in order to address the needs of a dynamic work force at its SMU Co-Curricular Symposium Nurturing Holistic & Career-Ready Scholars. Education Minister Chan Chun Sing was the Symposium's Guest-of-Honour and gave an opening address.

In celebration of its 25th Anniversary, SMU proudly declared that its graduating class of 2025 will be the first to be awarded the Co-Curricular Transcript (CCT), a pioneering effort introduced in 2023. This achievement speaks volumes about SMU's determination to develop graduates who are not only academically capable but also nimble, self-assured, and prepared for the challenges of the contemporary workplace. Complemented with access to the newly released Lifelong Career Support from 1 May 2025, all graduates can feel assured to make career transitions with confidence, no matter where they stand in their professional life. This is opportune, as mid-career career changes are on the rise in Singapore and the recent volatility faced by the global economy.

Delivering the opening address, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing commended SMU for its leadership in pioneering the CCT, outlining four key qualities that students should cultivate Curiosity, Connection, Creation, and Contribution to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving world.

"The Co-Curricular Transcript, in its proper spirit, is for our people to understand our strengths and weaknesses and know how to use such strengths to contribute positively to society. It is about self-discovery, self-understanding, and using what you have to make a meaningful contribution".

Addressing an audience of more than 200 educators, industry partners and students, SMU Provost Professor Alan Chan expressed that he was proud the University is setting the industry standard and highlighted the University's mission to develop future-ready graduates.

At SMU, we share the conviction that education goes beyond the classroom. As the first university in Singapore to incorporate internships, community service, and international exposure as part of our formal graduation requirements, we have always been advocates for a wholesome approach to education".

"The Co-Curricular Transcript takes this solid foundation further by bolstering our students' actual-world competencies even more through richer co-curricular learning as well as empowering them to present their experiences in more confidence and clarity. This will provide our students with a badly needed boost in today's competitive employment market", he stated.

The CCT supplements conventional academic transcripts by recording students' holistic learning journey. It classifies students' involvement and development into three ascending levels Exposure, Integration, and Transformation while issuing digital badges for the achievement of Graduate Learning Outcomes.

Since internships, community service and international exposure are official graduation requirements for SMU students, the data could be well recorded. This systematic record gives employers better insights into graduates' abilities beyond academic performance.

SMU's Integrated Co-Curricular Management System (ICMS) facilitates the CCT, enabling students to monitor learning experiences, provide reflections, and obtain educators' comments. Student feedback gathered in early September 2022 by SMU's Co-curriculum Development unit from more than 200 students ascertained that 81.1 percent were in agreement that ICMS elements make their co-curricular experience more meaningful, and 97.5 percent were in favor of a formal co-curricular record being presented at graduation.

This program is especially relevant as skills-based recruitment becomes more popular around the world. LinkedIn reports that 73 percent of recruiters currently value competencies over degrees. In Singapore, 70 percent of employers put more emphasis on soft skills such as communication and critical thinking than on hard credentials. SMU's CCT closes this gap by making these crucial skills transparent to potential employers.

Today's hiring environment is moving quickly toward a skills-first strategy. Employers are now looking beyond traditional qualifications to evaluate a candidate's ability to adapt, lead, and solve problems. SMU's Co-Curricular Transcript is very effective in providing graduates with a concrete means of presenting their skills and differentiating themselves in an increasingly competitive job market", says Elsie Ng, Head of Singapore.

Since its establishment, SMU has always led the way in programs that prepare students with the competencies required by employers. With 89.8 percent of SMU graduates finding employment within six months, the CCT further enhances their competitiveness in a skills-based economy.

Employers are invited to view the CCT not only as talking points, but also to utilize the entries to gain insight into the student's initiative, mindset and values in guiding their shortlisting process. Unlike a checklist or report card, students are also led to be more thoughtful about their activity selections, and to more consciously build a range and mastery of skills for potential alignment towards their career aspirations. SMU Pioneers Lifetime Career Guidance as Job Market Evolves

With mid-career career changes increasing in Singapore and 64 percent of alumni showing interest in career coaching services, SMU is also charting new territory by being the first Singaporean university to institutionalise lifelong career guidance. From 1 May 2025, appropriately, on Labour Day, all SMU degree award-holders; undergraduate and postgraduate irrespective of the year of graduation, will enjoy lifetime access to guided career development, a benefit that has hitherto been limited to recent graduates.

This move is in line with the country's national initiatives like SkillsFuture to advance career resilience and lifelong learning as an ever-changing labor market, becoming a new benchmark for higher education institutions to equip graduates with long-term workforce adaptability.

For SMU MBA alumnus Richie Sison (2021, Philippines), career coaching was instrumental in switching from finance to supply chain and operations. "SMU Career Services has greatly helped me to shift from finance into supply chain and operations.  The advice and guidance received from the coach allowed me to secure a job as a Supply Chain Manager for Amazon Singapore, which subsequently allowed me to be considered for transition into Uber Eats in Taiwan as an Operations Manager". Having life-long career guidance available will prove to be precious as we forge ahead through new career paths in our lives.

"The future workforce is being transformed at an unprecedented rate, and it is up to universities to lead the charge in readying graduates for it", Professor Alan Chan, SMU Provost, says. "SMU is pioneering what it means to care for graduates, not only at the beginning of their working life, but for life". We are the pioneers in Singapore to institutionalize and provide lifelong career guidance, such that regardless of how industries change, our graduates always have an ally to support them in changing, developing, and flourishing".

The Co-Curricular Symposium has drawn considerable interest from institutions around Singapore, including junior colleges, polytechnics and other universities — many of which are looking at similar ways of recording co-curricular learning. The transcript foundations were also created in collaboration with employers to ensure the relevancy of the learning outcomes.

As a pioneer in change-oriented education programs, SMU is also the first university in Singapore to have made community service a graduation requirement for all students since 2000, and we have collectively contributed over 4.28 million hours in service to the community.