Singapore’s Skills Future Council is set to provide S$500 of Skills Future Credit for every Singaporean over 25, which can be used on a range of Government-approved courses. The credit will also be topped up at regular intervals and will not expire, meaning recipients will be able to accumulate credit for more expensive qualifications, such as diplomas and degrees.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam unveiled the news as part of the recent Singapore Budget 2015. The focus behind the funding is to encourage Singaporeans to develop ‘deep skills’ and foster lifelong learning, in order to remain relevant to the changing demands of industry, and also to facilitate greater social mobility.
Singapore spends 20% of its annual national budget (over S$12 billion) on education per year, and it is expected that S$1 billion per year will be spent on the development of skills until 2020. This funding will also provide career guidance and enhanced internships, and courses will include weekend workshops and online learning.
Polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students will make use of professional career counsellors to help them choose appropriate career paths, and over the next two years, internships will become better structured for most polytechnic courses and half of ITE courses. Polytechnics and ITE graduates will be able to work while studying for an industry recognised qualification through the Earn and Learn programme, where they will undergo on-the-job training after being matched to suitable employers.
Singaporeans aged over 40 will also benefit from a minimum of 90% subsidisation of training costs for Government approved courses.
We expect that demand for short courses will rise over the next few years as Singaporeans make use of this new funding, and demand for diplomas, degrees, and postgraduate qualifications may also increase as workers upgrade their skills to remain relevant in the workforce.
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