On 25th September, 2017, Professor TAN Chin Tiong, Senior Advisor to President and Ms. Chan Wai Leng, Director of Office of Advancement of Singapore Management University (‘SMU’), have visited the headquarter of China First Capital Group Limited (‘CFCG’, stock code: 1269.hk) in Hong Kong and have met with Dr. Wilson SEA, the Chairman and Executive Director and Ms. LI Minwen, the Chief Operating Officer of CFCG, where the two sides have discussed and exchanged views on the differences between Chinese and Singaporean universities, the prospects for China's private education, the development of applied vocational education and other aspects of in-depth discussion.
Graph 1 (from left): Ms. LI Minwen, the Chief Operating Officer of CFCG, Dr. Wilson SEA, the Chairman and Executive Director of CFCG, Professor TAN Chin Tiong, Senior Advisor to President of SMU, Ms. Chan Wai Leng, Director of Office of Advancement of SMU
Singapore Management University(新加坡管理大学） was found in 2000, one of the five public universities in Singapore and Asia's top financial institutions. Currently, the school has about 7,000 undergraduates and about 1,000 post-graduate students, enrolling 1,500 undergraduates each year. At present, SMU has become a world-class business management university, with a ranking of 54th among UTD world-renowned business school rankings. It’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business and School of Economics are ranked 3rd in Asia; its accounting programme is ranked 1st in Asia and ranked 10th in the world respectively; its finance programme is ranked 2nd in Asia and 25th in the world ranked respectively. In the 2015 QS World University Rankings, accounting and finance programmes are ranked the world's top 50. In addition, undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business and School of Accountancy are accredited by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (‘AACSB’) and the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS).
As one of the top universities in Asia, SMU uses a unique teaching approach other than the American Ivy League workshop style in Asia. The goal of SMU is to carry out leading academic research and develop a leader with a full range of talent, creativity and business mind to fulfill its mission to create and spread out knowledge for a knowledge-based economy. It is reported that SMU have maintained a close working relationship with two other top business schools in the United States, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon University, which its information technology education and research is known in the world.
During the meeting, Professor TAN Chin Tiong has highly praised CFCG’s passion and investments in the field of education. He has also made a useful description on the difference between the colleges and universities of Singapore and mainland China, as well as the introduction of the cooperation between SMU and the colleges and universities in China like Shanghai Jiaotong University and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. He expressed expectations on the future of China's potential career development prospect.
Professor TAN Chin Tiong is one of the founders of SMU, who has served as the Deputy President, Provost, Senior Advisor to President of SMU, and made great contribution. Besides, he has also served as the President of Singapore Institute of Technology, Member of the Advisory Committee of Singapore Science and Technology Design University (Singapore's fourth public university). Professor TAN has acquired his Ph.D. (Business) in The Pennsylvania State University, and has also taught at the Helsinki School of Economics and Business and the University of Witworth in South Africa. During the meeting, Prof Tan has signed on the famous Co-authored book by Philip KOTLER, "Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective”, and presented to Dr Wilson SEA. The book has been released in Asia fifth edition. "Marketing Management" is the most widely used marketing textbook in the world, becoming the foundation of modern marketing, selected as one of the 50 best commercial books in the world. Many overseas scholars have regarded the book as ‘The Marketing Bible’
Graph 2-3: Professor TAN Chin Tiong signed on "Principles of Marketing: An Asian Perspective”
Dr Wilson SEA has expressed his great gratitude to Professor TAN Chin Tiong. He believes that as a young school, SMU has achieved such excellent academic performance in such a short period of time, the potential for future development must be extraordinary. At present, China's private education has developed rapidly with frequent supportive policies helps bringing a brighter future. Education industry is the best area to combine social and economic benefits where CFCG has firmly committed to invest in. CFCG will continue to rely on the listing platform, to investment in education as well as to promote education financial services and education management services. With a strong demand in vocational education in China in future, including tourism hotel management, auto-repair, rail transportation, nursing and other areas, the market supply is also increasing, that will be of CFCG’s focus to enhance investments. Currently, CFCG has acquired Singapore Raffles Music College and the leading investment bank Sterling Coleman in Singapore. As one of the world's top business management universities, SMU has internationally recognized world-class research and quality teaching, CFCG hopes to work with SMU to explore the new trend of vocational education development and to seize the opportunity to promote greater development.
