PhD students from National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Singapore Management University (SMU) will be able to enrol for postgraduate research courses and attend classes at all four universities.This PhD Singapore Universities Student Exchange Programme (SUSEP) combines the unique strengths of four very well-established universities, allowing students from the four universities to benefit from the wide-ranging PhD course offerings.
For NUS, NTU and SUTD Students Interested in Taking up SMU Courses
SMU’s seminar-style approach keeps class-size small, and this encourages deeper interaction and critical thinking.
Students will have to obtain prior approval from NUS Graduate School, NTU Graduate College or SUTD Office of Education (Graduate Studies) before submitting the application. Applications for enrolment will be accepted on the basis that NUS, NTU or SUTD has provided the students with approval to take up the course(s) at SMU.
To apply, SMU College of Graduate Research Studies (CGRS) will inform the nominated NUS, NTU or SUTD students on the application submission processes, and they will need to prepare the following softcopy documents during application.
Official PhD Transcripts *To have a minimum of one term of grades.
- GMAT or GRE report *Only if taking course(s) in School of Economics.
- Research interest(s) & publications (Combined into 1 PDF file) *Only if taking course(s) in School of Social Sciences.
Timeline for PhD SUSEP (Inbound):
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For SMU Students Interested in Taking up NUS, NTU and SUTD Courses
To apply, nominated students will have to obtain prior approval from the supervisor and School before submitting the application. Applications for enrolment will be accepted on the basis that both the supervisors and Schools have provided the students with approval to take up the course(s) at the Partner Universities (PUs), i.e., NUS, NTU or SUTD.
*For nominated students interested in taking SUTD courses, please note that the result release date for Term 1 enrolment may overlap with Term 2 of SMU’s academic calendar. In the event if a student did not pass the SUTD course(s), he/she may need to wait for another term to take the additional course(s) to fulfil the SMU’s PhD coursework requirements.
Timeline for PhD SUSEP (Outbound):
Term 1 (August Intake) | Term 2 (January Intake) | Activity |
13 May 2025 | 29 September 2025 | CGRS will share the course information to the students in each term of the academic year. |
26 - 30 May 2025 | 13 - 17 October 2025 | PUs will inform the students to complete the application submission process by their stipulated deadline. *We regret that late applications will not be accepted. |
16 - 27 June 2025 | 3 - 14 November 2025 | Students to receive application outcome from PUs via email. |
By 27 June 2025 | By 14 November 2025 | Students to indicate acceptance or decline of offer via PUs’ portal. |
By 17 July 2025 | By 28 November 2025 | Students to matriculate/ register online as per PUs’ instructions. |
11 August 2025 | 12 January 2026 | Term starts. |
Academic Matters
- Students who would like to transfer course credits back to their home academic institution or university may arrange to do so, ensuring that the courses they select are approved for credit transfers, as well as for fulfilment of the graduation requirements of their programme. Approval for transfer of credits is at the discretion of their home academic institution or university.
- SMU will issue one copy of the academic transcript approximately two months after the completion of the PhD SUSEP. SMU transcript is in the form of OpenCerts (digital) and will be sent directly to the PhD SUSEP students’ SMU email addresses. Students will be required to bear the courier or postage cost for SMU to send the transcript to an overseas address.
Dropping/ Withdrawing from PhD SUSEP (Inbound) Course
SMU Academic Calendar is available here.
Course Drop Window | Implications on Transcript | Remarks |
Before end of Week 2 (By Academic Term) | Nil | If you intend to withdraw from SUSEP, please do so before end of Week 2 (By Academic Term) |
From start of Week 3 to end of Week 7 | “W” grade | |
From Week 8 of term onwards | “F” grade |
