NYP to offer structured internships to all its students

SINGAPORE — Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) has become the first polytechnic here to offer the Structured Internship Programme (SIP) to all of its students as part of the SkillsFuture initiative.

Previously, the polytechnic’s stints that took the structured internship approach were offered to students at its School of Health Sciences and School of Chemical and Life Sciences.

Now that NYP has signed memoranda of understanding (MOU) with 50 companies across several sectors, such as information technology, engineering and chemical and life sciences, its students will receive greater support for meaningful learning at the workplace.

The MOUs represent significant partnerships between the polytechnic and companies.

The SIP will typically last six months or longer and will bring the polytechnic and companies together to develop a structured programme with clear learning outcomes and job scopes.

It will also feature activities that balance the needs of companies with objectives of the course of study to enable students to deepen their skills and acquire relevant work experience.

Currently, the internship period for NYP students is between three and nine months, depending on their course.

With the new programme, the polytechnic’s final-year students will be matched with industry mentors as they undergo real-world training and embark on projects.

The programme also aims to facilitate better integration between work and study, as well as help students sharpen the knowledge they have acquired in school through industry-relevant training.

SkillsFuture is part of the Government’s efforts to encourage Singaporeans to continue with lifelong learning and improve the career prospects of students from polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education.

At NYP’s graduation ceremony yesterday, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat emphasised this push to learn for the future. “Learning does not stop once you graduate,” he said. “Graduation is just the start of a new phase of learning.”

He pointed out that internships could provide students with an enriching learning experience, as they could apply their knowledge in a real-world context.

The SIP will give students more purposeful and effective on-the-job training and time to pick up “deep skills”, he added.

“They’ll also be able to immerse themselves deeper in industry sectors and understand the hard and soft skills that are needed to succeed in the working world.”

This year, 5,459 students will graduate from NYP’s seven schools. The ceremonies will end on Thursday.