Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD) is a relatively late comer in Singapore's tertiary education scene, established in 2009.
The undergraduate curriculum designed by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is suited to the local context since the two universities signed the collaboration agreement in January 2010. The curriculum offers a modern engineering and architecture education that crosses traditional departments enabling students to finish eight terms in three and a half years.
For SUTD’s undergraduate programme, students have to go through 2 phases – freshmore phase and pillar phase.
The freshmore term is from term 1-3 and it is a common term where students focus mainly on Math, Science and Humanities & Social Sciences (HASS) core subjects in addition to design projects.
SUTD recognizes the value of a holistic education hence incorporating a wide range of Science and Humanities & Social Sciences (HASS) courses in the curriculum of SUTD’s undergraduate programmes. HASS courses encourages students to self reflect and also to think critically, therefore nurturing leaders that can understand the impact they they and their innovations can play in the society.
All freshmore students are required to take a HASS core subject in term 1 and term 2 and in the pillar phase (from term 4 onwards) a HASS elective each term. In total, an undergraduate will complete 7 HASS courses in their study.
Example HASS courses from September –December 2017:
(https://hass.sutd.edu.sg/education/undergraduate/ug-course-schedule/)
The HASS courses offered varies each term so be sure to check out SUTD’s official website through the link above to verify! Also, the courses offered expands as additional faculties join HASS as well as when collaboration subjects with partner universities grow.
Subsequently, students enter into the pillar phase where they choose a specialization from the following and take relevant electives:
The EPD curriculum takes students through the process of invention, from conceptualization to design, implementation and operation of technology intensive products. The product sectors that EPD is currently focusing on are electronics, energy, machinery and transportation.
The tracks available for EPD students are:
For each of the different tracks, SUTD actually has a recommended curriculum so definitely check it out before selecting courses to ensure that you don’t go over or under loaded.
ESD is the study of large-scale complex systems whose performance and function depend both on their technology and on the socioeconomic context within which they operate e.g. supply chains and logistics, financial services etc.
The different tracks offered by ESD includes:
ITSD was established in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The focus at ITSD is on designing a information system that interact with the physical world, humans and machines.
The pillar tracks for ITSD students include:
**Note: Some tracks are interdisciplinary and may require you to take up subjects that are outside the list of ITSD pillar subjects.
The ASD pillar advocates a hands-on approach to architecture and sustainable design, and how technology impacts the designing and building process. In addition, the belief of ASD is that only by personal exploration with digital tools can you truly learn and therefore innovate.
Unlike the other pillars, ASD is a very specialized pillar that does not offer different tracks for its students and all ASD students undergo the same courses together every term.
If you look carefully, you will notice that there is this required “Capstone” in every curriculum. Capstone is an innovative program that brings students from different pillars together to form a design team that tries to solve real world problems. The students will have to each bring their field expertise and also in the process learn how to work in a team.
All in all, the education system in SUTD is indeed unique and if you are into its open and hands-on style of teaching and would like to find out more, you can always pop by during their orientation week to chat with current students and learn more about their experiences.