TRicontinental Exchange in Business & Leadership Education (TREBLE)
Three Leading Business Schools. One Cohort. Limitless Perspectives.
The TREBLE Programme
Inaugurated in August 2025, the TRicontinental Exchange in Business and Leadership Education (TREBLE) programme is a unique collaboration between three leading business schools - the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) in the United States, the Singapore Management Univerisity (SMU) and the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) in Denmark. Bringing together a select cohort of up to 45 business undergraduates, TREBLE offers a three-term global learning journey beginning at UNC, moving on to SMU, and completing at CBS.
Programme Vision & Structure
TREBLE offers a transformative, tri-continental journey in undergraduate business leadership education, uniting students across three campuses in Asia, Europe, and North America. By experiencing diverse academic environments and cohort-based learning, students gain perspectives that are greater than the sum of their parts. This curriculum is designed to cultivate global leaders who are adaptive, culturally intelligent, and ethically grounded, ready to navigate complex business landscapes.
Courses for this programme will be specially curated and focused on the leadership of people, organisations, and markets, as seen below:
| UNC | SMU | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Title | Global Leadership: Leading Across Cultures Pre-approved Exchange Mapping:
(Directly mapped to OBHR 212 Cross-Cultural Management & the Management of Diversity) | COR-MGMT 1316 Entrepreneurship and Business Creation in Asia Mutually Exclusive: EITHER MGMT218S Entrepreneurship in Asia OR COR-MGMT 1303 Entrepreneurship and Business Creation OR COR-MGMT1316 Entrepreneurship and Business Creation in Asia Course Areas:
| Finance and Financial Institutions in Society Pre-approved Exchange Mapping:
|
Business and International Development Pre-approved Exchange Mapping:
| MKTG 236 Digital Marketing Strategy Mutually Exclusive: EITHER MKTG 220 Digital Marketing OR MKTG 236 Digital Marketing Strategy Pre-Requisite: MKTG 101 Marketing Course Areas:
| The Institutional Arrangements of Capitalism Pre-approved Exchange Mapping:
|
*Please note that the information is accurate as at March 2026. Courses may be subjected to review and changes.
During the two terms on exchange, students will have access to other courses offered by each *host university. In addition to academic pursuits, students will also have immersive experiences in diverse geographical and cultural settings, and grow their global network.
*Please note that students will have to abide by the rules and regulations of course enrolment in each of the individual institutions.
BBM students in their second year at SMU may apply for this programme and if selected, will start the tricontinental exchange in their third year. They will move as one cohort with other students from CBS and UNC. The first batch will start at UNC in Fall 2025 (i.e., Year 3 Term 1, August to December 2025), then at SMU in Spring 2026 (i.e., Year 3 Term 2, January to April 2026), and finish the programme at CBS in Fall 2026 (i.e., August to December 2026). This timeline is illustrated below:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 1 | Term 2 |
| UNC | SMU | CBS | |||||
Bachelor of Business Management (BBM) students on this programme, like all other BBM students, will have to adhere to SMU’s exchange policies and timelines, including the following:
- Core courses and major core courses are not allowed to be mapped; in other words, courses taken at UNC and CBS can only be mapped to major electives and free electives.
- Students are expected to submit exchange worksheets for approval before proceeding to UNC and CBS.
- While on exchange, only a maximum of 2 major electives can be mapped back.
- Courses taken on exchange are mapped back on a pass/fail basis.
- During the Summer and Winter breaks of this programme, students are free to pursue internship/community service activities.
Students in this programme will pay normal tuition and fees to their institution of origin, i.e., home institution, in accordance with the policies of that institution. They do not need to pay tuition at any of the other Universities, i.e., host institution, while on exchange. However, students will be responsible for all expenses and obligations incurred during the programme. This includes (but is not limited to) insurance, living, accomodation costs and activities fees.
Who can apply?
Students in their second year of the BBM programme with exemplary conduct, good academic performance, and a strong interest in living and learning abroad can apply for this programme.
How to apply?
Application for 2026 (Round 1) is nowopen.
Further Details
1) Please note that LKCSB will shortlist applicants for this programme. Selected applicants will be informed for interviews accordingly. The interview results and selection will be final.
2) For information on available financial assistance, please refer to: Financial Aid | SMU Undergraduate Singapore
3) For more information on studying at UNC and CBS, please refer to links below:
https://catalog.unc.edu/courses/busi/
https://www.cbs.dk/files/cbs.dk/anticipating_arrival_guide.pdf,
https://www.cbs.dk/files/cbs.dk/smooth_studies_guide.pdf
Courses at bachelor level | CBS - Copenhagen Business School
If you have further enquiries on this programme, you may write to lkcsb_ug[at]smu.edu.sg, Attn: Ms Jasmine Lim.
