SMU ties up with Alibaba to launch digital training course for 1,000 SME professionals

The series will begin with seven courses from March.

The Singapore Management University (SMU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Alibaba Cloud to launch a series of courses aimed at training more than 1,000 working professionals in Singapore, an announcement revealed.

The SMU-Alibaba series professional continuing education programme will be offered at the SMU academy from March 2019 and will be crafted specifically to empower Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“Conducted by Alibaba Cloud scientists, the courses will focus on leveraging real-world case studies to provide actionable insights into applicable technologies and strategies for business leaders to succeed in this challenging environment,” the parties said in a joint statement. The courses will reportedly cover the latest trends and digital strategies across a range of industries such as retail, finance, logistics and manufacturing in order for its participants to keep up with the adoption of emerging technologies within their respective fields.

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The series will begin with seven courses from March which will be offered as part of the SkillsFuture Series of training programmes to drive training in eight priority and emerging skills. Participants who successfully complete the courses will receive a certificate jointly issued by SMU and Alibaba Cloud.

“As Singapore’s Smart Nation becomes a reality, we will require Smart Citizens to lead the way,” Alibaba Cloud’s Singapore and Indonesia country manager Leon Chen said in a statement. “We hope to provide actionable advice through a blend of successful stories and our holistic approach to technology to help create a future-ready Singapore.”

Meanwhile, SMU also inked an agreement with Google Singapore to offer the SMU-Google Squared Data & Analytics programme to SMU’s undergraduate students which aims to teach industry-ready data analytics skills that can contribute to the knowledge economy and increase the availability of data analytics talent.

The programme will be open to all SMU students at its six schools from their second year of study and will provide students with the opportunity to undergo a six-month extended internship programme at a Google partner company in the media industry.