Speech by SUSS Provost, Professor Robbie Goh at the First Year Assembly 2025

President of SUSS, Professor Tan Tai Yong

Board of Trustees Members

SUSS colleagues

Students of the SUSS 2025 intake

Good afternoon, everyone.

1. It is my pleasure to welcome the students of the SUSS 2025 intake. Whether you are stepping into university life for the first time fresh out of Poly or JC, or coming to university as a working adult learner, we are delighted to have you join our SUSS community.

2. You are all here because you know the value of a university education, and also know the value that society and employers place on that education.  But what is a university education really worth?  Can we do without it?  These are relevant questions to ask, in an age of AI and industry disruptions, the end of lifetime employment loyalty, and in which people drop out of university to aspire to become rich techies and social media influencers.

3. For these and other reasons, I think it is true that the traditional university educational model cannot persist.  This is where the university stands like an ivory tower separate from society, studying things only of interest to the university, and dispenses its own brand of learning to those few lucky enough to get in.  When you leave this kind of university, you get a piece of paper, a stamp of the university’s approval, that is supposed to last you the rest of your working life.

4. This ivory tower model of the university is no longer adequate.  Why make students memorise facts when AI can do it better and faster?  Why spend the bulk of your university education in just one major programme, when many people change jobs and industries in less than 10 years, and industry knowledge and processes change radically just as fast?

5. So, to return to my earlier question: What is a university education really worth?  The answer, to me, is that the university education is worth exactly what the university and its students put into it.  If they do it right, then the university education is worth a lot: it instills the programme knowledge you need to get hired and get started on your career ladder (or, in the case of working adults, to get promoted or moved to a different career pathway). 

6. If we do it right, the university education is also about acquiring skills and attributes you just can’t acquire outside: core competencies such as effective writing and communication, critical thinking, interdisciplinary methods, collaboration, and others.  Core competencies are what you take with you all your life, even if you change jobs or even change industries.  Some of these core competencies are going to become increasingly important in an age of AI: these are the competencies that define us as humans, that AI cannot do or cannot do well.  These include things like teamwork and people management, user design and user experience, and the human-to-human interactions that so many of the humanities and social sciences disciplines are good for.

7. Most of all, the university education is about learning to be a lifelong learner.  This is not as easy as it may sound.  It means learning where and how to look for knowledge, and how to put that knowledge into an organised form. Chat GPT can help you with this, but you still need to learn how to properly use Chat GPT and other tools.  It also means learning how to add value to knowledge, so that you don’t sound just like a Chat GPT essay, or just like the hundreds of workers who can only generate simple Chat GPT reports.  It means learning how to test and evaluate knowledge, when and how to find additional information if you need it, and how to apply knowledge in the most effective and even innovative ways.  It means having a constantly open and curious mind, enjoying learning new things, asking the right questions, and looking for and listening to people who may have the answers you need.

8. This is where SUSS, as a young university, has a lot of advantages.  We can focus on the nature of learning of today and tomorrow, without having to carry a lot of the baggage of the ivory tower university.  Our core curriculum imparts transferable core skills.  Our curriculum design gives you enough knowledge in your chosen programme to get started in your career, but also enough curricular space to take courses outside your major – electives, minors, as much as a second major – so that you can become a more flexible and attractive hire. 

9. We constantly develop our pedagogy and educational technology to encourage self-learning, peer-learning, and effective online learning.  Our use of Associate Faculty and programme advisors from industry ensures that current industry knowledge and problems enter the classroom to challenge and complement theory and methods.  And our emphasis on volunteerism, social service, internships, practicums, entrepreneurships and interdisciplinary industry capstones means that what you learn will always have an applied industry perspective, enhancing your employment opportunities.

10. The SUSS experience is not finished after your undergraduate studies.  Indeed, no university degree can equip you for all the challenges you will face in the society and workplace of tomorrow.  Here again, a big advantage that SUSS has is that we are set up as university for continuing education.  Our wide range of postgraduate courses can help you upskill and even reskill for different job situations, and are stackable towards advanced degrees like the Masters, Doctorate and Ph.D.  So your relationship with SUSS indeed will not end with your undergraduate studies, but should be a lifelong relationship. 

11. I’ve given you just a glimpse of the inner details that make the SUSS teaching and learning experience difference.  This is so you can better understand the educational process that you will soon be experiencing.  But I don’t want to make things sound too clinical and programmatic.  Above all, an SUSS education is a growth journey, during which you will experience many things, and will change along the way.  Your minds will develop, but so will your personalities – challenged and provoked by the people you meet, the events and experiences you will encounter, the opportunities you take up.   

12. I encourage all of you to make the most of your time in SUSS.  We have designed a university experience that will develop and equip you, not just early in your careers but for the rest of your working lives, and also to impact others in society.  Don’t focus on the piece of paper you will get at the end of it, but rather focus on each moment of the journey, the people and the experiences, the challenges as well as the joys.  Your teachers and fellow students are ready to walk with you each step of the way.  We will also be there to applaud you when you finish your studies and are ready to make your contribution to society.

13. Congratulations on your matriculation into SUSS, and I wish you every joy and every success in your journey ahead.  Thank you.