Nurturing agile leaders
Students entering NUS Business from the Academic Year 2017/18 can look forward to greater flexibility, as well as increased opportunities for industry experience and overseas learning in the enhanced Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business Administration (Accountancy) curriculum.
Developed over a period of 10 months by a review committee, the new curriculum is centred around the characteristics of an AGILE business leader; where AGILE stands for Academic; Global and experiential; Industry-relevant; Leadership; and Entrepreneurial.
NUS Business strongly believes in providing students with an experience that prepares them for their careers and life beyond graduation and thus, is adapting to market trends and factoring in different learning approaches targeted at students of this generation, said Professor Bernard Yeung, Dean of the NUS Business School.
“In this new curriculum, we ensure the knowledge we ground our students in is relevant to this rapidly changing environment,” he added. “Beyond knowledge creation and dissemination, the new curriculum will bridge knowledge and practice, provide business-relevant opportunities, inculcate creativity, and instil students with the confidence to face the business world.”
Four key areas that the enhancements build on are a rigorous, relevant and rewarding curriculum; customisable world-class degree; hands-on third-year capstone modules; and international exposure.
To help freshmen transition to university education, NUS Business will introduce mandatory online-based multimedia modules that will act as pre-requisite knowledge preparation at the start of the semester. There will also be a compulsory primer module to give freshmen an overview of the way different business functions work together.
Core business modules will be streamlined to provide students more flexibility and autonomy in customising their studies. More than 25 per cent of the new curriculum will be catered for unrestricted electives, and three new specialisations will be offered — Business Analytics, Business Economics, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship — bringing the total number of specialisations to seven. The Honours programme will be adjusted to a direct programme that allows two tracks — coursework or research, hence catering to students of a range of academic inclinations and aspirations.
Students in the third-year will have the choice to take on intensive, hands-on, one-week modules on actual entrepreneurial and social projects, giving them direct real-world experience.
Career preparation in the form of skills training, career workshops and industry leadership seminars will give students the needed preparation for their careers after graduation. Also critical to career prospects, internships will be made a formal part of the curriculum. Various opportunities for overseas experiences will also be available for students — exchange programmes, study trips, NUS Overseas Colleges, as well as overseas internships.
Reviews are conducted regularly to ensure the NUS Business curriculum remains relevant to industry needs and market demands. The last major revision was in 2010.
See press release.
