Chairman’s Message

The key tenets of this new direction will be the extension of our educational offerings to serve bigger segments of learners both locally and regionally, and the sharpening of our continuing education and training (CET) focus to meet constantly changing needs of PMETs.

Mr Tan Soo Jin

Chairman
SIM Governing Council
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2017 has been an exciting and fruitful year for SIM.

As a not-for-profit organisation with a social mission to support human development in Singapore, we are always mindful of the need to balance responsible stewardship with stringent commercial discipline to ensure the sustainability of our mission. As a result of this discipline, we were able to achieve a better than expected financial performance despite a challenging business environment exacerbated by shrinking cohort sizes across all levels of education, stiffer competition and the need for higher spending on future developments.

Our total group revenue for 2017 was $236m, a slight increase of 3% compared to $229m in 2016. With improved productivity and prudent spending, we were able to keep cost increases to just 2.8% at $209m. This renders a surplus of $26.8m, 4.9% higher than $25.6m in 2016. All figures reported are exclusive of Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

The smooth transition of SIM University to SUSS as an autonomous university under the Ministry of Education ends yet another important chapter of our social mission in supporting Singapore’s talent development.

Over the past few years, in view of impending changes, I have led the council and senior management on a strategic review to re-envision SIM’s future role and define new paths for our continued relevance and growth in the fast changing education landscape. The key tenets of this new direction will be the extension of our educational offerings to serve bigger segments of learners both locally and regionally, and the sharpening of our continuing education and training (CET) focus to meet constantly changing needs of PMETs.

In 2017, some of these new directions were realised while others are being fine-tuned for roll-out soon. Two international schools have been successfully set up to offer junior level education - the SIM International Academy in Singapore located at our Clementi campus and the Singapore (Cambodia) International Academy in Cambodia. This downstream extension will broaden our educational offerings and deepen our expertise, and enable us to better integrate our operations and offerings to provide a smooth transition from junior to higher education. Our move outside Singapore will allow us to use our experience and expertise to help develop the education sectors among emerging countries.

Just one year in the making, the SIM Applied Entrepreneurship Centre is gearing up to actively support the building of a vibrant start-up and entrepreneurship sector in Singapore. An angel investor funding network, SIM Fx, has been set up to augment Platform E’s ecosystem in nurturing early start-ups. SIM Fx also aims to further advance the knowledge and skills of local and regional investors through training and development as this is a group that is currently not well supported in this aspect.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my council, the SIM management and staff, faculty and associates, as well as our members and students for your unstinting support during the past year. With your continued support, I am confident that SIM will once again rise up to its call to play an important role in supporting the education and lifelong learning of different sectors of learners, in Singapore and beyond. Together, let’s go on to create and inspire others to create impactful changes for a better world.

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Management Report

Dr Lee Kwok Cheong

Chief Executive Officer
Singapore Institute of Management Holdings Pte Ltd

Mr Ronald Tan Hee Huan

Executive Director
Singapore Institute of Management

Expanding and deepening our impact in private education

In 2017 our plans to pivot for growth by expanding our educational offerings and increasing our footprints beyond Singapore saw its first fruits.

Extending offerings to junior education

Backed by our experience and track record in education, we extended our educational system downstream to include junior level education. With this, local and foreign students have more educational pathways and the choice of a seamless articulation into higher education tracks at SIM.

In Singapore, SIM International Academy’s (SIM IA) first cohort started classes in September. Offering the Cambridge IGCSE and International A Level programmes, it focuses on applied learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and the Social Sciences. SIM IA is further differentiated by a faculty experienced in both local and international curricula and its unique pedagogy to nurture students as curious learners, community builders and creative leaders. We have received very positive feedback from students’ parents on the real world and holistic approach we are taking to ensure a future ready generation.

Our first foray to bring the Singapore and SIM brands of education to the region was the setting up of the Singapore (Cambodia) International Academy (SCIA) in Cambodia. Catering to students from preschool to year 12, it blends the Singapore & Cambridge curricula to offer a high standard of international education in a country where a good quality education is an important pillar of economic success. Construction works for the school are near completion and we look forward to welcoming our first cohort of students in August 2018.

Strengthening global education

In Singapore, we continue to be the leading private education institution in terms of quality, reputation and size. Despite stiffer competition for a shrinking education pie, our enrolment stood at 19,000 at the end of 2017, a 5% drop from the previous year. In 2017, we introduced 11 new programmes to meet market needs. These include an international healthcare leadership programme with University of Manchester; and an entrepreneurship and innovation programme with University of Birmingham.

We owe the success of our programmes to a strong network of more than 10 universities and institutions from around the globe. They share our commitment and work relentlessly with us to bring programmes of high standard, rigour and relevance to meet the needs of industry.

Even as we continue to bring on board new partners and programmes, we are strengthening our relationships with existing partners. This year marked our 31st year with the University of London (UOL) and 30th year with RMIT University.

With the setting up of the UOL-SIM GE Regional Centre and expansion of the RMIT office here at SIM, we look forward to further collaboration in growing our reach in Singapore and across the Southeast Asian region.

Achieving positive students’ outcomes

Academically, our students have done very well. Among the achievers, 225 or almost 11% of UOL students graduated with First Class Honours, a record-breaker for the fifth year running. With this, SIM continues to be the institution with the highest score of First Class Honours for UOL’s programmes worldwide. Of the graduates from the University at Buffalo programmes, 300 or 63% graduated with Latin honours with 15% of them achieving summa cum laude, a commendable achievement indeed.

Our investments in giving students a rich campus life and building strong networks with industry and employers have led to strong students’ outcomes. Our graduates continued to enjoy good employability and are valued by employers. In the 2017 graduate employment survey, 82.7% of our graduates found job within six months of completing their degree studies. More than half of our graduates also received at least two full-time job offers, a testament to employers’ recognition of the quality of SIM graduates. However, we also saw a slight increase in graduates opting for part-time work, many of whom did so by choice to try out if the field is suitable or to start a business. This flexible work trend reflects not just a tighter job market but also a growing preference among the young to take time to discover their passions and interests.

As we take positive strides to create a greater impact in education, we are also cognisant of the need to innovate and embrace new ways of teaching and learning enabled by technology. To harness the power of mobile technologies, we piloted an interactive mobile game designed to pique students’ interest in mastering subjects on Economics and also launched an app that delivers bite-sized learning resources to better support our faculty.

Aligning our Continuing Education and Training to meet new needs

Building a vibrant entrepreneurship centre

Platform E, the new entrepreneurship ecosystem set up in 2016 to nurture entrepreneurs and start-ups took off with the first cohorts of its two signature programmes - the full experience entrepreneurship programme, intensE and modular IncubatE programme. With all 55 desks in Phase one of the co-working space at Management House leased out and the 180 desks in Phase two expected to be completed in early 2018, the space is gearing up to be a vibrant community of entrepreneurs.

In its first year, four start-ups have been incorporated with one receiving angel funding and Startup SG founder grant from Tri5. Platform E also incubated and invested in two others.

Platform E’s initiatives have received strong support from many partners. The Employment and Employability Institute, e2i has extended training grant to participants on our programmes. Among the industry partners we are working with to identify support for unserved niches are MEDs Technology and Providence Solutions. Both are offering sponsorships to fund start-ups in IOT technology for urban vegetable and fish farming and in a new platform in the human resources and tech industry.

One Maker Group has also set up a Makers’ Space within our ecosystem to support entrepreneurs in their ideation and prototyping. A new food track is also in the works to take the food and beverage sector to a higher level.

Refocusing CET to meet changing needs

SIM Membership which continues to offer a valuable platform for lifelong learning and networking for executives of all levels remained relatively steady with a slight drop of about 3% to more than 36,000 individual and corporate members.

With the shifts in learning habits and needs brought about by technology, the focus for SIM Professional Development (SIM PD) was to work with companies to offer in-house programmes that are contextualised and customised, and to train their in-house facilitators for long-term viability. There was also a shift to programmes that target managerial levels and to curate more SIM PD-owned programmes to augment the current pool of expertise and external trainers.

A three-year collaboration with the Social Service Institute, the training arm of the National Council of Social Services, was inked to develop skills and leadership in the non-profit sector through the organising of the Global Leader Series conference.

We were also happy to share our expertise in training management and leadership with emerging markets. The first of these partnerships was with the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) in the areas of leadership, governance and management. In 2018, we will work with KIM to organise the inaugural Kenya East Africa Immersion Programme which aims to raise awareness of Africa as an investment destination and groom leadership for doing business in Africa.

We will continue leveraging technology to transform training modes to meet professionals’ need for shorter, just-in-time modular learning. Pilot projects were undertaken with technology solution providers, to deliver some of our programmes through e-platforms. More of such digitised content and learning will be in the works to ensure we move to meet new needs for continuing education and training.

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2017 Key Statistics

03%
GROWTH
$0 236million
REVENUE

036,504
Members

36,073 Individual members

431 Corporate members

019,060
Students Enrolled

SIM International Academy

60Students enrolled (first cohort)

SIM Global Education

19,000Students enrolled
over 80Programmes offered

011,480
Professionals Trained

More than

570

executive programmes and
customised in-company
programmes organised

0150,000
SIM Global Education Alumni

fromover 40countries

Group1 Institute1
20172
$’000
20162
$’000
20172
$’000
20162
$’000
Income 236,050 229,064 89,018 121,265
% growth/reduction 3.0% -26.6%
Expenditure 209,236 203,497 78,241 81,948
Excess of income over expenditure 26,814 25,567 10,777 39,317
Capital expenditure 8,336 7,456 3,561 5,640
Reserve Level3 1.1 years 1.3 years 2.0 years 2.6 years

1 Group comprises Singapore Institute of Management, Singapore Institute of Management Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore Institute of Management Pte Ltd, SIM International Pte Ltd (formerly known as SIM International Academy Pte. Ltd.), SIM Xtension Pte Ltd, Singapore (Cambodia) International Academy Co. Ltd, and SIM AEC Pte Ltd. Institute refers to Singapore Institute of Management.
2 For the year ended on 31 December.
3 Computed based on the formula: bank balances/ total annual expenditure including capital expenditure. SIM Group will target to maintain a reserve level of one year taking into consideration its future income streams and future operating and capital expenditure.

2017 at a Glance

March

  • Commencement of SIM - The University of Manchester Master of Science International Healthcare Leadership programme
  • SIM PD inked partnership with the Social Service Institute, the training arm of the National Council of Social Services, to develop skills and leadership in the non-profit sector

April

  • Commencement of Platform E’s Full Experience Entrepreneurship Programme – IntensE

MAY

  • Commencement of construction works for SCIA in Phnom Penh

JUNE

  • Launch of the UOL-SIM GE Regional Centre at SIM Clementi Campus

JULY

  • Launch of SIM GE Alumni Chapters in Medan and Guangzhou
  • SIM PD signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Kenya Institute of Management to promote leadership and management development in Kenya

AUGUST

  • Commencement of the SIM - University of Stirling Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sport Business Management and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Sustainable Events Management programmes
  • SIM celebrated 30 years of partnership with RMIT University
  • Record number of 225 SIM-UOL First Class Honours students
  • Platform E opened its first phase of The Space, a co-working space for startups at Management House in Namly

SEPTEMBER

  • Commencement of the SIM - University of London Graduate Diploma in E-Business and Social Media and SIM - University of Birmingham Bachelor of Science (Honours) Accounting and Finance programmes
  • SIM IA commenced classes with first cohort of international students
  • Singapore Management Festival attracted more than 800 business professionals over three days
  • 29 SIM GE scholarships, worth about $400,000 given out, a record number and value.

OCTOBER

  • Commencement of the SIM - University of Birmingham's
    • Master of Science Management;
    • Master of Science Management: Strategy;
    • Master of Science Management: Entrepreneurship and Innovation; and
    • Master of Science Economics programmes
  • Commencement of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, United Kingdom Preparatory Course for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Examination
  • SIM awarded Certificate of Recognition by the Health Promotion Board for promoting workplace health.
  • SIM Fx was set up to augment Platform E’s ecosystem in nurturing early start-ups

NOVEMBER

  • SIM PD awarded Silver for Best Management Training Provider by Human Resources Magazine