Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and IBM announce today thecontinued commitment to push the frontiers of service innovation through Service Science education, research, talent development and collaboration with government, academia and industry partners. This initiative is supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

The services sector is an important engine of the Singapore economy and accounted for 65.6% of Singapore's gross domestic product in 2008. Unlike traditional services such as wholesale and retail trade in the commerce sector, the emerging services clusters are complex by nature, and they often span across different industrial sectors such as business and engineering.

As the economy becomes more technology-based and services-led, there is a greater demand for a new breed of multidisciplinary and skilled professionals who understand business processes, can design and execute technology plans that create business value and cultivate relationships with stakeholders.

Recognising this need, NTU and IBM signed a memorandum of understanding today for the continued development of the Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME) programme that will nurture specialised human resource needed in the services industry. This MOU is an extension of the first collaboration in November 2007.

As part of the second SSME wave, industry partners will offer jobs and internships to SSME graduates and students, and provide case studies for industry-academic projects.

"We view industry alliances as an important conduit in developing a better educational experience for both faculty and students. These partnerships have helped the university produce graduates and research that is of relevance to the industry through the years. We are happy to extend our partnership with IBM, and we look forward to seeing a more concerted effort in incorporating SSME into our curriculum and research work," says Associate Professor Tan Ah-Hwee, Head of the Division of Information Systems, School of Computer Engineering, NTU.

SSME is a new multidisciplinary academic curriculum designed to produce students with the combined business, technology and social sciences skills needed in today's workforce.NTU currently offers two Master's programmes related to SSME, namely the Master of Science in Systems and Project Management, offered by the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Master of Science in Information Systems, jointly offered by the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information and the School of Computer Engineering (SCE). The undergraduate Computer Science programme of SCE has also incorporated SSME into many software-related courses. To date, a total of 405 students have enrolled in these courses.

The MOU was signed by Professor Khoo Li Pheng, Associate Dean (Outreach & External Relations) of NTU's College of Engineering and Ms Teresa Lim, Country General Manager, IBMSingapore Pte Ltd, on 9 December 2009.