Message From The Director

The Wee Kim Wee Centre of SMU is dedicated to promoting cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary dialogue within the SMU community and with the public about the major issues and challenges that attend to contemporary life. The late President Wee Kim Wee, after whom the Wee Kim Wee Centre in Singapore Management University is named, understood the value of critical dialogue between alternative perspectives, social and cultural diversity, civic engagement, and lifelong learning. It is in honour of these values and commitments that the Centre hosts and supports lectures, conferences, and publications. These aim to advance learning and thinking about major cross-cultural issues for all who appreciate the need for a profound appreciation of the similarities and the differences that mark our common humanity. It is a privilege and honour for this Centre to be associated with a man who believed passionately in practicing and fostering communication, understanding, and goodwill in a complex and sometimes tumultuous world.

The Wee Kim Wee Centre is also a key partner of SMU’s new Core Curriculum, and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with its three pillars. We believe in nurturing the capabilities of our students to meet the challenges of tomorrow, in dialoguing and interacting with the communities around us, and publicly addressing and engaging with the pressing questions that confront humanity. The College of Integrative Studies and the Wee Kim Centre stand united in the view that the boundaries between the classroom, boardroom, and public square are fluid and porous, and that the academic mission of the university is enhanced and best championed when informed by sustained and critical public engagement.

Director, Wee Kim Wee Centre