At a recent International Academic Advisory Panel chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, it was highlighted that Singapore’s universities can be key stakeholders in SkillsFuture, the government’s new funding model which assists Singaporeans with lifelong learning.
This would be supported by a dedicated facility in each university to provide guidance to people of all ages, including students, workers, and the retired, who require skills and knowledge of varying requirements.
Part of the reason for the dedicated facilities is that the programmes for lifelong learning can be quite different to the usual pre-university and degree programmes of higher education. Lifelong learning will be more flexible and open-ended. The qualifications will also be more market-driven rather than academically-driven, and also the faculty will have a greater mix of professionals and industry experts.
NUS will have its facility ready later this year, while SIT will have theirs ready in 2016.
We believe that these facilities will help Singaporeans to create deep skills that evolve through time in line with market needs, and will help Singapore to become a truly ‘Smart Nation’, an aim that the government is now focussing on.
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