AY2026/27 Term 1

The importance of healthcare was never felt so keenly as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, there is a greater appreciation of the need to proactively build resilient and high quality health systems, and to explore new innovations. With a rapidly ageing population, the burden of disease will increase even as the pool of potential care providers decreases. At the same time, the cost of healthcare needs to be contained, while meeting patient needs and keeping providers motivated. This calls for radical increases in the productivity of the healthcare sector. In this scenario, there is a need to understand complex systems concepts in assessing the impact of interventions. This technology-agnostic course will explore the context of the healthcare industry, with a particular focus on Singapore and Asia. Students will gain hands-on experience understanding a real-world problem and designing a solution for it, but also in understanding how to assess the broader social context in which solutions are deployed. The course will aim to provide a window to real-world experiences and open-ended problems. It will utilise cases and management games. It will help students to develop critical and holistic thinking, while gaining practical skills in solution development.

This course will introduce students to the application of interdisciplinary working. Creating an interdisciplinary Major can be imagined as a puzzle whereby all the pieces are aligned around a central theme. Your module choices will form the foundational knowledge blocks for a critical question or line of enquiry which will be addressed through your final Capstone or Senior Thesis. Interdisciplinarity as a practice and method will help join all the strands together, allowing you to rise above siloed approaches to fully unpack and understand the complexity of the various dynamics at play within your chosen area of study. This course is a practical approach to interdisciplinary work through the visioning, creationing, and implementation of an interdisciplinary project. The course is worth 0.5 CUs and will run every other week.

Financial markets play a vital role in economic growth and development. At the same time, financial volatility highlights the importance of central banks in conducting monetary policy and maintaining financial stability. This course consists of two parts. The first reviews key concepts in monetary theory, including interest rates, money market equilibrium, and the dynamic AD-AS model. Students will develop an understanding of how monetary policy influences macroeconomic outcomes and economic stabilisation. The second part focuses on monetary policy and the role of central banks. Students will examine monetary policy frameworks, the money supply process, policy instruments, transmission mechanisms, exchange rate policy, and the challenges of policy implementation. Through SMU-X experiential learning, students will work on real-world projects with the Central Bank of Vietnam, applying economic theory to practical policy issues such as monetary framework modernization, financial market oversight, and exchange rate management. These projects strengthen critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills. As an SMU-XO course, students will also participate in an immersive experience in Vietnam through guest lectures, interactions with local students, and business visits, enhancing their global awareness and cultural competence while fulfilling the Global Exposure requirement. Teamwork forms a key component of the course and is assessed through group projects and peer evaluations.

This course will introduce methods of measuring income distribution and income inequality, examine macroeconomic models with implications on income distribution and re distribution, and analyze government policies in relation to income distribution. Global studies (including the case of Singapore) on income inequality, intergenerational mobility, and related issues on disparity will be reviewed, and discussed. 

Topics may include some or all of the following: measurement of income inequality, problems of rising inequality in advanced and emerging economies, growth and inequality, human capital and inequality, intergenerational mobility and inequality, trade liberalization and inequality, redistribution policies, etc.

This course will provide an introduction to the developmental challenges in Asia. The course will begin with introducing the distinction between concepts of economic growth and development. The course will have a strong emphasis on understanding the life and well-being of people in Asian countries through the lens of development economics. We will attempt to diagnose the causes of underdevelopment by analysing its components such as lack of sufficient access to education, savings, and nutrition, and study how these can cause the persistence of underdevelopment. 

We will also look at dimensions of identity such as gender and how development policy can be designed in the presence of prejudice. Finally, we will study how the delivery of public goods and services is constrained by issues like state capacity, corruption and political institutions. Policy implications emerging from the material we have studied will be also discussed.

Develop a proof of concept software application or system that satisfies a list of functional and quality requirements. Students will work with a team and practice their requirement analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment and project management skills. 

Build the professional knowledge depth required to become a software developer or research engineer. This includes building up competence in the student's selected track, applying their learning domain knowledge and technology to the relevant industry sectors or research areas. A CS project does not have to be tied to a specific track, i.e., it can be multidisciplinary. 

The project's nature and scope are set by the project sponsor. Students can work on an application development or a research project. It is advisable that for research projects, students should have GPA > 3.4.

Cyber-Physical Systems infuse sensing, computing, networking, and control capabilities into physical objects, breathing into them new life, new purpose, and new meaning. They are present in diverse application domains: social services, food, healthcare, transportation, environmental sustainability, and more. Cyber-Physical Systems empower global communities to create meaningful impact by addressing societal challenges, in areas such as social fabric, quality of life, and sustainability. In this foundational course, we embark on an adventure; sometimes challenging, always exciting. 

We learn vital theories, acquire skills, and work with tools for Cyber-Physical Systems. We discover their essential elements. We explore ways to unite the cyber and physical realms. We unleash our creative energies, our youthful idealism, and our capacity to dream, by creating visionary technology to conquer a real-world societal challenge. 

The adventure reaches its peak at the project showcase, where we witness the work of human hands come to fruition, leaving us inspired to reflect deeply and broadly about how we, as global citizens, can harness the power of Cyber-Physical Systems as a potent force in the service of humanity.

The Solution Architecture course integrates design concepts and methods to develop IT solutions from both the software and system-level perspectives. It focuses on the analysis, design and implementation of an IT solution through which business requirements, software qualities and solution elements are transformed into implementable artefacts. By combining critical analysis with hands-on design and development, the course prepares students to participate effectively in the architecture design and development stages of a software-intensive IT solution project. It is highly recommended that students are also proficient in IS442 Object Oriented Programming and Java programming language prior to reading this course.

This course introduces students to human-AI collaboration in software development through the design and implementation of modern web-based systems. Students explore core software engineering topics including software design issues, agile development processes, and project management. In team-based projects, students gain hands-on experience combining human expertise with AI tools for requirements analysis, coding, testing, and deployment.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the basic concepts of statistics through illustrative use of statistical methods for solving applied problems. Emphasis will be placed on statistical reasoning, rather than derivation of theoretical details. Students will learn to solve common statistical problems using statistical software. This course is designed for students who wish to pursue a non-quantitative major at SMU. Students who intend to pursue a quantitative major should take its companion course, COR-STAT1203 Introduction to Statistical Theory.