SMU unveils new co-living apartments

Twenty-three communal apartments with 204 vibrantly coloured bedrooms await 255 student residents at the Singapore Management University (SMU) Prinsep Street Residences (PSR) when it opens in August.

Located 650m from the SMU campus, it will be a co-living community of students working together on projects for various modules. A cafe, work-play and multi-purpose lounges will be available for their use.

SMU's Dean of Students, Prof Paulin Straughan, said: "All freshmen to final-year students can apply for a space in PSR, and will be assessed via their past achievements, prior experiences or level of interest in the modules offered."

SMU is hoping the city-living concept will attract students seeking entrepreneurship and community service projects.

Students living in PSR may collaborate with community partners like the Bras Basah Complex Merchants Association on entrepreneurship projects, and some spaces in the Entrepreneurship Practicum - which is offered in SMU's Lee Kong Chian School of Business faculty's Entrepreneurship major - will be reserved for PSR residents.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Social entrepreneurship project ideas for voluntary welfare organisations are also encouraged.

SMU Grow, an urban farming movement that promotes sustainable living, will even allow residents to grow their own produce on a plot of farming land at the PSR. The size of the farming area has yet to be determined.

Prof Straughan estimates that foreign students will make up at least half of PSR's population.

Bachelor of Science (Economics) student Toshin Sequeira, 21, who is from India, told The New Paper: "(PSR will) allow students to collaborate on many levels, be it for leadership, social entrepreneurship or community service, while not losing out on precious study time. Students can pursue passions, try their luck at ventures and enhance SMU's ability to give back to the community."

Student-led activities like night cycling and sightseeing will help foreign students integrate with the local student population at PSR.

Prof Straughan, who is confident that PSR will be a success, said: "(Unlike co-living startups), there is already an existing interest in the concept from students in recent years. So now we're simply building them a space to satisfy the demand."