New Pathways to Learning

Full-time Programmes

UniSIM’s full-time programmes continued to witness strong interest. We received 3,100 applications with an eventual intake of 428 students to six programmes. To meet increased needs in the future, we launched two new programmes – Supply Chain Management and Social Work to train qualified talents in these sectors.

Real-world, Real-time Education

The line between formal studies and work is blurring. Partnerships with industry are constantly being forged to enable our students to gain relevant work experience while pursuing their studies. This makes them work-ready, and is a win-win for both employees and employers.

Work Study and Global Perspectives

A key tenet of UniSIM’s work-study initiative is its intensive six-month work attachments that are compulsory for all full-time students. In 2016, 195 students were placed on work attachments in Singapore as well as Asian countries such as Myanmar, Indonesia, Japan and China.

Students were also exposed to global programmes. Examples included an overseas study mission to the United Arab Emirates for participants to gain a wide breadth of appreciation for that region including economic and business opportunities; and an exchange programme with Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani University where students worked as teaching assistants.

Growing through Serving

The Three H’s – Head, Heart and Habit – define UniSIM’s education philosophy and design. The goal is that UniSIM graduates will be professionally competent and job-ready (Head), socially conscious (Heart) with strong work ethics and values (Habit).

To cultivate the Heart, service-learning is a compulsory graduating requirement in UniSIM. In 2016, more than 400 students participated in service-oriented projects in collaboration with over 40 community partners including Youth Corp Singapore and Pertapis. These collaborations were in areas such as ageing, health, poverty, vulnerable children and youth, inclusion and diversity, and the environment.

To help our students grow beyond the classroom, we also worked with international partners such as the Hillary Outdoors Education Centre (New Zealand) and Nomad Adventure Pte Ltd (Malaysia) on customised student programmes focussed on building life skills.

Part-time Programmes

Convocation 2016

UniSIM has done well to make education accessible to all through flexible and yet rigorous learning pathways. Part-time programmes remain the standard bearer of our academic portfolio.

The 11th UniSIM Convocation, presided by Mr Ong Ye Kung, Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education & Skills) and Senior Minister of State for Defence, saw 2,134 graduates receive their scrolls. These graduates included pioneer cohorts in Aviation, Business Administration, Sociology with Security Studies, Psychology with Security Studies and Communication with English Language.

Earn and Learn

As part of the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn initiative, UniSIM partnered Nanyang Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic to offer their graduates in Retail Management, Supply Chain Management, and Big Data and Analytics an articulation pathway to UniSIM part-time degree programmes. Graduates under this nationwide scheme acquire relevant job skills and an industry recognised degree certification at the same time.

Applied Research for Real-world Relevance

The Centre for Applied Research (CFAR) continually forges strategic collaborations in research, with the findings used to develop relevant programmes for learners and improve the world we live in.

It was a fruitful year for CFAR, with the completion of five research studies, two new projects, six seminars and one panel discussion involving the academic, business and public sectors on a wide range of topics.

Industry engagement continued through our quarterly Business Times-UniSIM Business Climate Survey, in its tenth year, and the LTA Public Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey, in its eighth year. For the first time, CFAR contributed to the quarterly survey of the Asian economy conducted by the Japan Centre for Economic Research.

The Institutional Research and Analytics Unit was set up in 2016 to provide information to aid effective planning at UniSIM, with the eventual aim for the university to become a leader in the field of institutional decision-making leveraging analytics.

Integrating Technology and Learning

As one of the early proponents of e-learning, we continue to leverage new technologies to define the way we deliver the best learning experience for our students.

We enhanced our iStudyGuides and the UniSIM Backpack mobile app. We also implemented a new learning management system to give our students a more engaging learning experience.

To date, over 50% of our courses have been rolled out via e-learning mode, which incorporates elements such as e-textbooks.

Cultivating Lifelong Bonds

We don’t make a hard distinction between students and alumni as we see them all as lifelong students who learn from one another.

We increased the number of student-alumni activities to cater to the diverse needs of our community. Highlights included the first overseas trip to Malacca, OSIM Sundown Marathon and night cycling.

The first Industry Networking Session was organised to provide a platform for our alumni to interact and build friendships with business leaders and industry players.