Conquering The Global Workplace With Global Education

09 Jan 2019

5 mins

Globally fluent critical thinkers and innovative problem solvers set the pace in culturally diverse work environments. SIM GE strives to enable their students to excel in these aspects.

As businesses extend beyond borders, accommodating various cultures has become the norm in a globalised company’s daily operations. One of the effects of this movement is that competition for job openings or even promotions has grown tighter, with applicants coming in from all over the world. This globalised landscape creates the demand for agile and diversified employees.

For one to successfully navigate such an environment, one needs to be culturally fluent and have many useful skillsets. Education plays a key role in developing graduates who are well-equipped to be successful in a globalised workplace. Global education is key to this success. This is why Singapore Institute of Management Global Education (SIM GE) offers global learning to its students.

As one of the leading private educational institutions in Singapore, SIM GE develops the ability to function and flourish in a culturally diverse working environment. This, and skills in critical thinking and problem solving, are essential in a global workplace. To instil in their students a global edge, SIM GE partners with more than 10 reputable universities with top-notch faculty in the United States, Australia, and Europe, including the United Kingdom. The institution’s Office of Global Learning also develops students’ global competence through a wide array of programmes and activities. One such activities saw five students from a University in Australia join the SIM GE Global Learning International Summer Programme (ISP) last November. The programme teaches students and working professionals how to strengthen their global competence. Leah Hessing, one of the participants, says, “[Joining the ISP] is a good way to gain an edge in employability. By choosing Singapore, I’ve learned to sharpen my communication skills through interaction with people from a different culture and gained more self-awareness.”

There were similar experiences of camaraderie as SIM GE students embarked on the institution’s International Programme together with South Korean students from Dongguk and Konkun University. The students spent two weeks attending talks on topics such as ‘Understanding Global Competence and Cross-Cultural communication in the Global Workplace’ and explored Singapore. All these activities exposed the students to global experiences–through interactions with students from another country. These interactions encouraged self-awareness and developed the students’ knowledge, skillsets, and attitude.

Under the —Summer Abroad programme–SIM GE diploma and undergraduate students spend two to eight weeks attending classes at one of SIM GE’s partner universities. The benefits of this globalised programme are threefold: the students meet their peers from all over the world, they learn from top professors, and they experience how it is to live independently in another city.

In addition to academic programmes, SIM GE’s 70 student clubs give students opportunities to pursue their extra-curricular interests. Many of these clubs encourage inter-cultural communications as well.

SIM GE’s focus on global learning is in line with the findings of a 2016 survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The survey shows that students of global campuses are twice as likely to be employed within six months of graduation as compared to those who are not. Singapore, according to the London-based weekly magazine Times Higher Education, is “definitely a destination to consider” if you are planning to pursue undergraduate or graduate studies in the region. After all, Singapore, “is a centre of innovation and successfully attracts foreign investment each year,” according to the article.

SIM GE’s diverse student and alumni population of over 40 nationalities are equipped with a learning experience which arms them with a global mindset.

For example, under the SIM GE’s Master of Science in Engineering Business Management and Master of Science in Supply Chain and Logistics Management programmes, students are required to do a dissertation supervised by the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). SIMTech, a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), collaborating with multinational corporations and local companies in precision engineering, electronics, semiconductor, medical technology, aerospace, automotive, marine, and logistics, among others.

Global education is key to succeeding in a global workplace. SIM GE achieves this exactly by bringing the world to its campus, and bringing its students to the world.

Posted online, 11 May 2018