ITE, NUS to roll out new work-study programmes

SINGAPORE — Apprenticeship-based programmes at the post-secondary level will be expanded, with two new ones to be rolled out this year, said Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday (March 7).

The first is an apprenticeship-based Technical Diploma, offered by the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) for its graduates, while the other work-study programme will be offered by the National University of Singapore (NUS) to undergraduates.

The SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme — designed to give graduates from ITE colleges and polytechnics a head-start in careers related to their discipline of study — will be extended to include a new work-learn pathway for ITE graduates. 

The new pathway will help them  to deepen their skills as they study for a technical diploma linked to sectors such as mechanical and electrical services design and supervision, as well as offshore and marine 
engineering.

Right now, ITE graduates enrolled in Earn and Learn Programmes work towards a diploma through a part-time course offered by the polytechnics, while polytechnic graduates in the programme work towards an advanced or specialist diploma. 

There are 40 such programmes across 23 sectors, including healthcare, food services and infocomm technology. 
ITE presently offers three specialised diplomas: Technical Diploma in Culinary Arts, Technical Engineering Diploma in Automotive Engineering, as well as Technical Engineer Diploma in Machine Technology. 

These are offered in partnership with foreign institutions. 

Speaking in Parliament during his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate, Mr Ong noted that many ITE students aim to progress to polytechnics. 
“However, while polytechnic education is applied in nature, it is not quite ‘learning by doing’ in the sense of an apprenticeship,” he said, adding that students need to do well academically to gain entry into polytechnics. 

With this new pathway, which he said is “a more natural path for them to achieve mastery, across a range of fields”, “ITE students need not see polytechnics as their only progression pathway”. 

Separately, NUS’ work-study programme will start in the upcoming academic year, making it the third university to offer such a programme here, after Singapore Institute of Technology and SIM University introduced seven such degree programmes last month. 

Courses on offer at NUS will be in information security and business analytics, as well as data science and analytics. 

Undergraduates who take up such programmes will spend up to four days a week at work with partner-employers, and have at least one day set aside for studies.

Mr Ong told the House that he hoped more local universities will introduce such work-study programmes.

During Tuesday's debate, Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng also spoke about the need to “embrace risks in trying new things, or (finding) new ways of doing things”. 

“Having entrepreneurial dare is all the more important as we enter unchartered waters ahead.”

To build the spirit of entrepreneurship among students, Mr Ng stressed the need to build the right environment, “where trying is encouraged, and failing is accepted” as a step towards success.