Centre for Social Responsibility (C4SR)
Community Service has been an integral part of SMU's DNA since our university's inception in 2000. SMU is the first university in Singapore to make community service a graduation requirement. All undergraduates are required to complete a minimum of 80 hours of community service.
Students matriculated from AY2019-20 onwards (excluding students in the Bachelor of Laws programme1) will be awarded one course unit (1 CU), upon successful completion of the Community Service requirements.
In reality, the graduation requirements belie the true passion of our students. Our last graduating cohort from the Class of 2021 averaged 129 hours per student. To date, SMU has devoted more than 3.6 million hours in service towards the community.
The Centre for Social Responsibility (C4SR) provide students with many opportunities to work with beneficiaries and non-profit organisations supporting various causes. These include both physical/in-person and virtual local and overseas community service projects.
C4SR also works with external partners to impart leadership skills and encourage volunteerism among students through talks and other initiatives. It has established several awards and grants to recognise outstanding student achievements.
Students can start their community service anytime during their course of study at SMU. It is best to start early, so as to ensure sufficient time to meet both the graduation requirement and the volunteer programme needs of your partner organisations. For students who are interested to embark on your Community Service, please visit https://www.smu.edu.sg/campus-life/community-service/community-service-guidelines for more details on the guidelines.
Please also keep an active lookout for the emailers from C4SR, as C4SR will be regularly sharing important updates and posting available volunteering opportunities throughout the year.
1For students in the Bachelor of Laws programme, Community Service will continue to be a non-credit bearing graduation requirement.
