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Speech by Minister for Education, Mr Chan Chun Sing, at the Launch of NUS's Internship-As-A-Service and Connectus Platforms

Last Updated: 28 Jan 2022

News Speeches

Distinguished Guests

1. Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to join you here today for the launch of NUS's Internship-As-A-Service (IAAS) and conNectUS platforms.

Importance of Industry Partnerships

2. Like many economies today, we face the challenge of preparing graduates with the right skillsets required by fast-evolving industries.

  1. Business and technological cycles have all become much more compressed, with jobs and the type of skills needed evolving rapidly.

3. Given the speed of change, we are no longer competing on the basis of size, resources, or even manpower.

  1. Instead, whichever economy that can transmit knowledge most quickly and effectively between industry and academia will have the competitive advantage of tomorrow.
  2. This is what I often refer to as the "speed to market", or how we can shorten and compress the knowledge cycle for our graduates and our industries to be competitive for tomorrow.

4. That is why, more than ever before, strong industry partnerships are crucial in our higher education system.

5. We need to quickly bring new technologies, knowledge, and skills to our students.

  1. Industry plays an important role in ensuring that curriculum remains relevant, in tandem with evolving needs of our companies and the economy.

Industry Exposure for Students

6. One way for industry to contribute is by providing opportunities to students to work on actual real-life projects with them, through internships or other forms of workplace learning.

  1. This helps students translate what is taught in theory to real-world applications and gain other soft skills that may be more difficult to develop in a classroom setting.
  2. These experiences help prepare our students to enter the workforce.

7. Companies also benefit from such partnerships.

  1. Companies get the opportunity to tap on fresh ideas and perspectives from students when they collaborate on projects.
  2. Better trained graduates mean a stronger future talent pipeline for companies.
  3. And for companies who had hired interns, they also get the first pick of these students when they graduate.

8. Hence when I was at MTI, I always encouraged companies to proactively link up with our institutes of higher learning to help train our students to master the skills and knowledge that would enable them to thrive in industries, and contribute effectively to companies. While internships are already a feature in most programmes in NUS, I commend NUS for expanding the opportunity for companies and students to connect and work with one another.

9. The new IAAS platform complements formal internships by providing companies and students a more flexible arrangement for providing and gaining industry exposure.

  1. Job stints can be short or long, and at any time of the year. These are not bounded by the schools' academic calendars.
  2. Students can apply for any job stint posted so long as they have the required skillsets. They are not bounded by their field of studies.

10. Through such dynamic arrangements, we transcend the conventional constraint of requiring companies to align their internships to academic calendars, and open up more opportunities for our students to keep pace with rapidly emerging technology and industry trends.

11. I encourage NUS students, especially those whose courses do not require an internship stint, to tap into opportunities in the IAAS platform to gain some industry exposure before you graduate.

Industry Exposure for Faculty

12. Apart from industry exposure opportunities for our students, our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) faculty also need to keep abreast of emerging trends in the industry.

  1. Our faculty have a direct impact on the skills and knowledge that a student gains in the classroom.
  2. For those who teach courses or modules that develop professional skills, they need to be kept up to date with the needs of the industry so that they can design and deliver content that is relevant to our students.

13. Regular industry attachments are important for these faculty to constantly gain new perspectives and deepen their connections with the industry.

14. IHLs can also do more to encourage and facilitate collaboration between their faculty and industry, including on industry projects.

  1. Faculty can bring new ideas and perspectives to help solve new challenges and problems in the industry, including from our research institutes.
  2. They can also bring industry experience and connections back to the classroom.

15. I encourage companies to partner our IHLs to provide these industry exposure opportunities to faculty members as well.

  1. And I encourage our faculty to put yourself out there to connect with the industry practitioners.

16. Perhaps NUS could expand your new platform to also allow faculty to collaborate with companies on projects and co-create innovative solutions to pressing problems in our society.

17. This is yet another way for us to compress the cycle of knowledge sharing between industry and academia.

Lifelong Relationship with Alumni

18. Another way that our IHLs can remain plugged in to industry developments is to maintain connections with their alumni, including those based overseas, and benefit from their professional experience working in the industry after graduation.

19. Alumni networks provide long-term value to an educational institution.

  1. They help alumni to stay in contact and continue to learn from one another long after graduation,
  2. And can also be leveraged on to enhance teaching and learning in the institution.

20. For instance, IHLs can connect undergraduates with alumni to:

  1. Explore opportunities for internships and mentorships,
  2. Gain access to job and career opportunities,
  3. Get insights and advice on specific organisations, industries, or career pathways,
  4. And keep abreast of changes in their industry of interest, be it new knowledge, technologies or new skills required of future workers.

21. I am glad that NUS's new conNectUS platform will foster these alumni connections.

22. I understand that NUS will also use the platform to stay in touch with alumni, to share information on events and continuing education programmes.

23. And this should be the way forward for our all our IHLs.

  1. To not just be a place for foundational learning,
  2. But to become institutes of continuous learning, where alumni return to augment their skillsets and remain relevant in the workforce and at the same time, contribute to their junior's learning experience.

Industry Transformation

24. While much has been said about the importance of our students and workers continually upskilling themselves to remain relevant, it is equally important that our companies and industry keep pace with new business models and technologies.

  1. Industry and workforce transformation must always go hand in hand.
    1. If industry transforms faster than our education and training ecosystem, we will not have sufficient quality workers with the right skills to fill the jobs.
    2. If industry transformation lags behind our training efforts, our students and workers will find themselves without the suitable receptacles to employ them.

25. This is another reason why industry-IHL collaboration is so important.

Conclusion

26. I want to thank all our industry partners here today for your support and ask that you continue to explore new ways to strengthen collaborations with our IHLs.

  1. This can take the form of more industry exposure opportunities for our students or faculty,
  2. Or research collaborations to tackle specific industry challenges, including the setting up of corporate labs together with our IHLs.

27. To the students and alumni,

  1. Make full use of the opportunities presented to you.
  2. Connect with one another and maintain ties to your alma mater, even after you graduate.
  3. I hope that you will have a lifelong relationship with your IHL. Instead of producing graduates every year from a cohort of 30 to 40 thousand, we have the opportunity to retrain and upskill our workers at the scale of 300 to 400 thousand each year.

28. Once again, congratulations NUS on the launch of IAAS and conNectUS. Your efforts will enable current and future generations of graduates to remain connected with NUS, and for Singapore to shorten the gap between frontier industrial knowledge and academia – this will go a long way in helping us to forge ahead in the global economy.

29. Thank you.