Post by Yuanto Kusnadi

Imagine having students from 17 different nationalities in a class! That’s a record high for me & this is probably the most diverse class I have ever taught as Aidan M W. & myself welcomed the 40 students taking our course on “ASEAN Perspectives on Comtemporary Issues”. This course is offered for the Singapore Management University Global Summer Programme (GSP) 2024, which is off to a roaring start with the launch of the #DigitalIntelligence track on Monday. The 17 nationalities represented in the class area: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea, China, India, Vietnam, China, USA, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium & Australia! This truly reflect the multi-cultural aspect of GSP & we certainly hope the participants can learn from one another 🙏 After my introduction to the course, Aidan took over with a very interactive lecture on ASEAN Perspective. There was discussion on what the logo of ASEAN symbolizes & how it grows (from 5 to 10 member countries) in the past 56 years since its inception in 8 Aug 1967. There were insights being shared on what collaborations within ASEAN entails & some of the policies such as non-interference & consensus of principles. Are they blessings or curses for the individual member countries within ASEAN? We also have 2 sponsor companies that presented their problem statements for the SMU - X projects that the students will be tackling as groups. Panerai is a luxury watch brand under the Richemont Group. We have the priviledge of having Jene Tan (Head of Marketing, Panerai SEAO), Keane Lee (E-business Specialist), Yuan Huey Liak (PR & Communications Executive) presenting on the history of Panerai as a brand & its growth in the SEAO region. It is always to have SMU Alumnas (Keane & Leia) coming back to their alma-matter, now representing their company. We are very proud to have them! Attribute Data is a tech company that specialises in customer intelligence consultancy services. Its founder Joanna Teo 张宝月 is currently a graduating student of the SMU Master of IT in Business programme. The changing trends in the workforce makes it challenging for SMEs in the ASEAN region to adapt to issues such as work-life balance, remote working, side hussles, etc. Being able to recognize these emerging trends will be key for SMEs & the challenge will be on what is the appropriate business model that business can adopt to be successful in today’s environment! The two diverse projects assigned to the students will require some out of the box thinking & perhaps some interviews or surveys with the relevant stakeholders. These tasks will keep the students busy 😀 There will also be company visits arranged to IMDA PIXEL & KINN Capsule Hotel as well as site visits over the next couple of weeks too. Rick Tay, Hwee Eng Bay, Florence Neo, PingPing Han Alexandre Pellegrin, Elie Nicol, Paulien Beeckmans, Mayavée, Julie, Alexandra, Eunice #students #learningjourney #networking #consultancy #smusg