SIM celebrates a historic and notable year

“We are always looking for good news during challenging and often difficult times, and we found the good news here,” said Ms Lynne Roberts, Director of the International Foundation Programme at the SIM-University of London Achievers’ Event held virtually on 17 February. This is so true!

Every year, University of London (UoL) and SIM take pride in celebrating the academic accolades of students. 2020 had been an extraordinary year with online classes and examinations, something most students are unfamiliar with. We are thankful that our students continued to excel in the University of London examinations with record numbers achieving exemplary results and receiving notable prizes, commendations and topping the world in many examination papers. 

SIM’s score card for 2020

• 304 BSc with First Class Honours.
• 66 CHESS with Distinction.
• 30 IFP with Distinction.
• 13 MSc Professional Accountancy with Distinction.
• 4 Graduate Diploma with Distinction.
• 165 top scorers.
• 80 Commendations.
• 48 Prizes and Awards for Academic Achievement.

SIM staff took the Achievers’ Event into the virtual space and – for the very first time – we saw graduates, students, lecturers and colleagues from University of London, LSE, UCL, Goldsmiths and SIM coming together across borders and time zones to celebrate the academic achievements of 2020. 

It was a heart-warming celebration as one SIM-University of London family.

Representing the University to applaud the academic accolades were Professor Mary Stiasny, Ms Lynne Roberts, Mr Chris New, Mr Bill Abraham, Mr Malcolm Yiong, Ms Eve Thompson and Ms Holly Peterson. From the member institutions, we had: Ms Elizabeth Aitken, Dr James Abdey and Ms Stephanie Cloots from LSE; Dr Maggie Cooper from Goldsmiths; and Ms Lynsie Chew and Professor Alan Parkinson from UCL. The SIM contingent was led by Vice-Provost, Dr Timothy Chan, who gave the opening address.   

“2020 is a very historic and notable year for many different reasons, however it’s a very special year for examination results,” Ms Aitken noted.

Indeed! SIM students achieved an impressive record of 48 prizes and Awards for Academic Achievement, 80 Letters of Commendations and 165 Top Scores! We also recognised 113 who earned a qualification with Distinction – 30 students from the International Foundation Programme, 66 from the Certificate of Higher Education in Social Sciences, 4 Graduate Diploma students and 13 Master of Science in Professional Accountancy! And we had a record 304 students graduating with First Class Honours! 

A shout out to EMFSS alumni; Hoe Chu Ping, a First Class Honours graduate from the BSc Mathematics and Economics. He has an impressive set of results, scoring first class for all 16 papers. His lowest score was 71%, his highest was 100% and his average mark was 87.3%. 

Another achiever is BSc Business and Management student, Chua Zhang Liang whose mark of 98% was top in the world for the Introduction to Economics examination, a paper taken by over 2,700 students worldwide. 

Ms Tan Mu Na, MSc in Professional Accountancy graduate, received a prize from UCL for academic achievement. Ms Tan Mu Na achieved the top mark of 75% for the Strategic Financial Project amongst close to 400 students from around the world. 

Lastly, Chen Jia Ying, a First Class Honours graduate in Creative Computing, was awarded the Goldsmiths’ Best Overall Achievement award for Creative Computing and the top mark for the Computer Security course. It is not surprising that Jia Ying is a repeat participant at the Achievers’ Event. She received a letter of commendation in her first year and was an Academic Achievement prize winner and joint topper for the Interactive Multimedia course  in her second year. 

SIM lecturers were also full of praise for the student achievers and put together a congratulatory video.

Graduates and students had the opportunity to pen thank you messages to their lecturers in the Mentimeter, showing appreciation to those who have helped them in their learning journey. 
 
At past Achievers’ Events, one of the highlights is the physical photo booth for a keepsake. This year, students and alumni had the opportunity to take photos with their loved ones in the comforts of their home via a virtual photo booth. A mosaic with all photos was created.  

Even though we had to do things differently this year, it was a heart-warming celebration as one SIM-University of London family. We would not have done it any other way. 

• Chua Xin Di is an Executive at the Singapore Institute of Management.
• SIM celebrates the 35th anniversary of the collaboration with University of London. In 1986, SIM started with one degree in Management and today offers classes leading to 31 University of London qualifications at its beautiful campus in Singapore.