NTU to offer 28 courses for professional development

SINGAPORE — From August, the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will start offering 28 courses aimed at helping working adults pick up new skills to keep abreast of changing economic needs, particularly in key growth areas, such as data analytics, digital electronics and enterprise and innovation.

Each course — some of which are part-time — offered by the NTU’s new college will last 13 weeks and be taught in “flipped classroom” style, where students can go through study materials online before meeting teachers and peers for face-to-face discussions.

The academic credits can be accumulated to qualify for a specialist certificate or degree when they are admitted into a full degree programme. The college also plans to offer non-credit courses such as in the area of personal development.

The courses will be offered by the NTU’s new College of Professional and Continuing Education.

It is working with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), which will provide course subsidies from the S$200 million boost to the NTUC-Education and Training Fund announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the May Day Rally yesterday.

The NTU is the labour movement’s first university partner for boosting support to working adults, especially professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), for them to remain economically competitive.

The NTUC is looking to collaborate with more institutes of higher learning, such as the Singapore Institute of Technology, to open up more classes for PMETs.

The NTUC targets to reach 30,000 people annually with this collaboration with the NTU.

The university added that it is also working with the NTUC to provide more courses catering to the needs of specific groups, such as business owners and senior executives of small and medium enterprises, as well as freelancers and the self-employed.

Singaporeans will be able to use their S$500 SkillsFuture credit to pay for these courses, while union members can benefit further from a fee subsidy of up to S$250 per year. Course fees range from S$1,300 to S$2,000.

Investment yields from the NTUC-Education and Training Fund will be used for course fee subsidies.

Recent labour market statistics have flagged the growing concern over the job prospects of mature PMEs. For instance, in the Ministry of Manpower’s Redundancy and Re-entry into Employment report for 2015 released this month, 9,090 residents were made redundant last year, of which more than seven in 10 were PMETs, and among whom 40 per cent are in their 40s.

Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the May Day Rally yesterday, NTUC secretary-general Chan Chun Sing said workers had asked the labour movement to curate the courses “because they (workers) want to know what the skills of the future are”.

He added: “We must have a combination of modular courses, combined with technology that makes it convenient for them to upgrade. And the modules must not be too complex at the beginning, so they can take it a step by step.”

NTU Provost Freddy Boey added that the technology-enhanced learning approach taken for these courses will help PMEs who have to juggle their careers and go for training to upgrade their skills.

“They will have the flexibility of managing their studies at their own pace with the interactive course content delivered online. This reduces the commuting time needed to attend lectures in person, and the face-to-face classroom time is better utilised for more in-depth discussions and problem solving with their peers and professors.” NG JING YNG with ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KELLY NG