A very good afternoon to all distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Especially the Ngee Ann Kongsi and Foundation, and your fellow members
Introduction
1. Thank you for the invitation to witness the appreciation ceremony for the Ngee Ann Kongsi Library and the Ngee Ann Kongsi Emergence Fund.
2. First, let me express my thanks to the Ngee Ann Kongsi for your generous support for educational and societal causes over the years.
- The endowed donation of $25 million, comprising annual gifts of $2.5 million over 10 years, will support the development of the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT)'s library, both here and at the new Punggol campus.
- It will also go towards an Emergence Fund that will support opportunities for students to develop innovative projects and soft skills, while giving back to the community.
Strengthening Applied and Continual Learning at SIT
3. SIT was established as our fifth Autonomous University in Singapore in 2014 to pioneer applied degree pathways and offer a wide selection of upgrading opportunities for students.
4. Over the years, we have invested significantly in SIT and the other Institutes of Higher Learning, or as I call them now, the Institutes of Continuous Learning.
- These efforts support our students' aspirations for continual learning, develop their foundational skills, and build a strong pipeline of skilled workers for our economy.
5. While foundational skills remain important, it is also essential that students learn continually and acquire new skillsets to adapt to and seize new opportunities in the fast-changing economy, and this is where I hope the example of Ngee Ann Kongsi will be something that more foundations and even companies can emulate.
6. Today, as we celebrate the gift of the financial resources by Ngee Ann Kongsi, we also hope that Ngee Ann Kongsi and other foundations, and other successful businesses, will also step forward to provide SIT and other educational institutions with the opportunity to collaborate with the industry. Because, going forward, the competitiveness of our economy and the competitiveness of our workers will depend not just on the financial resources that we can muster to help our students.
7. Just as importantly, and perhaps more importantly, it also depends on opportunities given to our students in terms of internship opportunities, industry collaborations, for them to be at the frontier of the industry knowledge cycle. This applies to our students as much as it applies to our faculty, and this is why I would like to thank Ngee Ann Kongsi for this financial contribution, and I also look forward to Ngee Ann Kongsi's extensive network of businesses and industry partners opening more doors to the faculty and students in SIT, for them to get a leg up in the pursuit of excellence and their own development.
The Library as a Node for Learning and Community Engagement
8. Traditionally, people view libraries as nodes of learning because that is where we store all the knowledge.
- But today's library has evolved. Today's library is no longer just the place where knowledge is stored. In fact, one could argue that Google is a better library than the physical library itself, when it comes to being a repository of information.
- That is why going forward, the library must be a 'living lab' where we teach our students and offer them the opportunities to collaborate with one another, to work with people across different disciplines, to work with people across different nationalities, so that we can fully build competitive advantages.
9. Going forward, the definition of success for education is no longer just about how well we transmit knowledge from one generation to the other. It is also not simply about how well we transmit knowledge from the faculty to the students. If it is just about the acquisition of knowledge, this can be acquired through the Internet, and even through self-based learning. But, going forward, one of the significant differences to our education system must be our ability to equip our students with the ability to collaborate and to self-discover – in other words, to create new knowledge. This is why I have great hopes for the Ngee Ann Kongsi Library. It is not just a new physical space, it must be a new physical space with a new concept of how to bring people together to collaborate, to create new knowledge, and not just to pass on existing knowledge.
10. And this is why I look forward to the SIT campus in Punggol, where the library will be a hub of activity and collaboration. If we can achieve this, then the donation from Ngee Ann Kongsi will not just be a physical space. Instead, Ngee Ann Kongsi's contribution will catalyse a new way of learning and collaboration between students, alumni, industry partners, and the larger community in the Punggol Digital District. This is the new exciting vision that we look forward to, with the support of Ngee Ann Kongsi.
11. And this goes back to my earlier point on why today's collaboration is not just about Ngee Ann Kongsi's financial contribution to SIT. More importantly it is about Ngee Ann Kongsi stepping forward to provide collaboration opportunities between our faculties and students with industry and the business community.
12. And I hope that the new Distinguished Speaker Series that will be held regularly at the library will also be a focal point of exchange for ideas. I hope we will challenge ourselves, including our own faculty, to maintain our cutting-edge in frontier knowledge.
13. This cannot be done solely through the efforts of the university. But with the partnership of industry partners and business leaders, we have a much better chance to equip our faculty and students with fast-evolving frontier knowledge. We hope to tap on the Ngee Ann Kongsi's expansive network in both the community and the business world to bring forth innovation leaders, thought leaders, and inspire the next generation of students. And I would like to encourage all our students and faculty to make full use of these collaboration opportunities with Ngee Ann Kongsi.
Conclusion
14. Once again, let me thank Ngee Ann Kongsi for your contributions of time, treasures and talent, in addition to financial resources.
15. Through a collaborative approach, we can be very confident that we will be able to look forward to SG100 with pride and confidence, because every generation will enable the next generation to do better. And this is the spirit that we are celebrating today as embodied by Ngee Ann Kongsi and its members.
16. Thank you very much.