Academic Address by SUSS Provost Robbie Goh at the First-Year Assembly 2026

1. I am the Provost, Robbie Goh. It is my pleasure to welcome the students of the SUSS 2026 intake into the SUSS community on this special day. It is a momentous and significant day for you and your families. I offer you my heartiest congratulations on your significant achievement. 

2. As you begin your university life, you must naturally be curious about what lies ahead, what the university can and should be doing for you, and what you cannot and should not perform. 

3. Universities are no longer simply ivory towers of knowledge, where most of your learning is from books and what professors say. The knowledge that you gain at the University cannot simply be book knowledge. It will not stay unchanged for the duration of your working life. 

4. Careers are becoming less linear, and knowledge is changing more quickly with Artificial Intelligence. 

5. Many of you may work across several different roles, sectors, and professions over the course of your careers. Some jobs will change. Some may even disappear. 

6. The challenges facing our workplace and society are increasingly complex. They cannot be solved by one discipline, one profession and certainly, not by one person acting alone. They require people who can bring different forms of knowledge together, listen to perspectives unlike their own, and contribute effectively as part of a team. 

7. I am sure you may have heard some or all of this before. What is more important is what is the University is doing about this to nurture development. 

8. These are divided into two aspects: the curricular aspect and the experiential aspect. 

9. I will begin with the curricular aspect. SUSS constantly reviews and revises its curriculum to ensure that its graduates are employable and work ready as possible. 

10. Let me briefly outline the four principles that SUSS has followed in its most recent review to create an AI-ready framework. 

11. Firstly, do not over teach the discipline. For example, aerospace engineering, finance, or even psychology, whichever programme you are pursuing. Since knowledge and jobs will change very quickly, it is important to teach the key competencies of the discipline, but it should be skills and competencies oriented, and not just to impart fixed bodies of knowledge.

12. Secondly, disciplinary knowledge should be applied and industry-oriented, and should introduce ways of using AI in your industry. Work attachments, practice, or practicum sessions with different agencies and organisations ensure that your learning is always industry oriented. Applied AI also ensures that you can add value to the industry by helping the industry roll out AI to new areas. 

13. Then, inculcate fundamental and transferable skills, which will stand you in good stead wherever you go. These include skills like critical thinking, the ethical use of AI, human factors and design thinking, teamwork, empathy and client management. These are skills that will help you even if you change jobs or change industries. They are the skills that AI cannot do, or cannot do on its own, which enhances your value.

14. Finally, our capstone module, NIE499 brings all these things together. Here, you will work in interdisciplinary teams on real industry problems, co-curated between our faculty and our industry partners. 

15. The capstone taps on your fundamental skills, your training in AI application in your industry, your teamwork, client management, your human and design thinking, and all the other skills. It goes a long way towards making you more employment ready.

16. So, these are the four principles of the SUSS curriculum in the case of AI.

17. For the experiential aspect, beyond these curricular principles, SUSS can add to your value through your experience of SUSS programmes, and through your participation in University life.

18. This comes in different ways – we have Student Interest Groups, which give you the opportunity to go deeper into particular interests, such as the sports groups, or the programme-based groups. These are a good way to gain experience in leadership, teamwork and competence. 

19. Then, there is the student networking and mix. You will encounter a fascinating diversity of students in SUSS, and maybe more so than in the other Autonomous Universities. Working Adults, young pre-employment soldiers, seniors and youth, people who may be reskilling into a new industry; people who are studying for the love of it. 

20. Your fellow students will have compelling stories, rich experiences, resilience in overcoming adversities and hardship, and valuable industry knowledge. There is much for each of you to learn from one another. 

21. There is also the interaction with our associate faculty and industry mentors. These teachers and mentors have much to offer you beyond just textbook knowledge. Some of them might even be in a position who can offer you a job or recommend you for one. 

22. Now that I have explained some aspects of the SUSS curriculum and education experience, what can you do to get the most out of it?

23. This is my advice to all of you: Firstly, in the words of the great philosopher Ted Lasso, and I quote: “Be curious, not judgmental.” Keep an open mind. Be ready to draw the best out of different people.

24. In that diversity and in learning to deal with diverse classmates and teammates, is an invaluable experience that will give you skills that AI cannot perform. 

25. Be flexible and resilient. Many of you already possess resilience in overcoming adversity to earn a place at SUSS. Continue that journey in learning new skills in new and unfamiliar courses, adjusting to different routines, doing internships and work attachments, coping with deadlines and pressures.

26. Again, those are all attributes that will stand you in good stead, and I am proud to say that flexibility and resilience are attributes that typify SUSS graduates.

27. Finally, be present and participatory. SUSS makes a lot of concession and allowances for the fact that most of our students, even some of our full-time ones, have work and family responsibilities. We understand that, and we get that. But if you don’t try your best to participate in class and university activities, you are not doing yourself any favours.

28. Online learning material, no matter how good it is, can only take you so far – especially in this age of rapid AI development. The SUSS education experience is designed to impart many intangible and invaluable skills that will help you throughout your career.

29. To that end, I would like to take this opportunity to make an announcement. Starting from the July 2027 semester, all SUSS courses will have a grade component for participation. Participation, of course, means attendance, which also mean physical attendance for in-person classes and online attendance for online classes.

30. The bottom line is, we can no longer follow the old pattern of learning, which in the last few decades were all about online learning and the free classroom. Now, instead, we are in the era of participatory and engaged learning. 

31. To be responsible for your educational journey, SUSS will have to incentivise and recognise participation and attendance. The participation grade will be a component of the overall grade, so you will be graded holistically, not just on attendance and participation. 

32. We are starting with a reasonable bar of attendance, of about 60% of the classes. Those will legitimate reasons, such as MCs, will have their absences offset. We will be sending out more details electronically soon, including links to an FAQ page.

33. So, now, you can see why I stressed the intangible, AI-proof skills such as resilience and engagement. These have always been good attributes but have not become essential ones to thrive in an uncertain disruption workplace environment. SUSS, I assure you, wants to do its best to prepare you for this, and I believe we have a good plan – one that has been endorsed, consulted with, and commended by several industry partners. But for this, we need your support and participation.

34. If you commit to an engaged and participatory educational experience, I promise you that you will get much out of your time in SUSS.

35. Congratulations once again, and I wish you every joy and success in the journey ahead.