Speech by Minister Chan Chun Sing at Nanyang Polytechnic's Graduation Ceremony

1. A very good morning to all of you.

2. First, let me congratulate you for all you have done to reach this significant milestone. Before I continue, in all my graduation speeches, I always like to remind all the graduands today that you are here because of three groups of people.

1. You are here today not just because of your hard work and intelligence. You are here today because of the love and support of your family, your friends and your lecturers.
2. Please join me in thanking them for their continuous support.

3. In Singapore, you never compete individually. You compete as a team and support one another. You compete as a team not just to make sure that you succeed, but to make sure that the next generation does even better than yours.

4. Today, as you graduate, one thing you will notice among the graduands is this; today we are not just giving out certificates for what we call the PE, or pre-employment training, where you get your first diploma.

1. Today, many amongst you are also adults who have come back to the polytechnics to learn, and you are an exemplar of lifelong learning culture.
2. Maybe one of these days, some of you will also come back to the polytechnic to learn new skills and improve yourselves.
3. As I look at all the graduation ceremonies across Singapore these few weeks, more of our graduation ceremonies celebrate graduands who are getting their first degree or diploma - as well those who are returning to get subsequent reboots - or an upgrade to their skillsets. This speaks well of the kind of learning culture that we have.

5. After today, some of you will be going on to work, some of you will be going on to NS. Some of you will be very excited about the next lap of your journey while others might be facing all these with trepidation.

1. The question that many of you will ask yourselves is this, how will you be successful? How will you stand out amongst the crowd? How will you keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and across the world?

6. For you to distinguish yourself, it will not just be the grades that you have obtained in NYP that matter. That is but a starting point, or a foundation. If I have a wish for you, it will always be for you to be a creator, a connector and a contributor.

7. Why a Creator?

1. I hope NYP has inspired in you a curiosity to learn for life and given you the confidence to learn. But for us to really succeed individually and as a country, we can never rely on yesterday's solutions for yesterday's problems.
2. In today's world, where the world of knowledge has been increasingly commoditised due to its availability on the internet, knowledge alone will not be sufficient, especially if it is just knowledge of what has happened yesterday.
3. Instead, each and every one of us can and have the responsibility to keep creating new value propositions for our potential employers, for our families, for our country. Only so will we as Singaporeans distinguish ourselves as a workforce that we can be proud of and can continue to attract investors to Singapore.
4. Today if you leave NYP and look for a job, I am very confident that most of you will be able to get a job fairly quickly. Some of you have already gotten a job before you finished your course. That speaks to the kind of quality that we have in our students. But that quality must not be based on book knowledge alone or yesterday's knowledge. It must be based on the confidence that you can continuously create new value propositions and find new ideas for the market.

8. Next, being a Connector. Today, in an increasingly fragmented world, we need people who bring people together, and unify others from different backgrounds with different ideas and perspectives together. This is where Singapore and Singaporeans can make our mark.

1. We are an inclusive society that embraces people who are different from us, from other cultures, other countries, other historical backgrounds.
2. This is what makes us special. As you graduate and go on to work, try to connect with people beyond Singapore.
3. The market for you is never about just doing well in Singapore. It is about doing well in the region and beyond. When we say we connect with the world, it's not just about connecting with advanced and developed countries. It is also about connecting with our neighbours, connecting with places that many people have not gone. That is where there our value proposition lies.
4. Whenever you go overseas, I hope that every one of you will bring back something new to Singapore. Bring back a new idea, bring back a new connection, and that will continuously strengthen your value proposition and our collective value.

9. Finally, I hope that you will be a Contributor. A contributor because each of you has something in you.

1. I have met many of you throughout your course of study, and some of you will remember that I always ask you this question; What makes you special?
2. Because I want you all to know and remember that there is always something that you may contribute to the world.
3. For those with great abilities, come great responsibilities. Your responsibility to contribute is even higher.
4. For those of you who are not so confident, I want you to remember that you have something special in you. It's for you to discover, and to make that contribution. In life, it's never always about looking for something that will meet our goals. Yes, we aim for that, but in life it's also about finding something that we can meaningfully contribute to, regardless of our stations in life. We are always in control when we want to make a contribution.
5. As you go forth and conquer the world, and explore new opportunities, I hope that you never forget the foundations you have established in NYP. That one day, you will come back and contribute to NYP to mentor the next generation so that together, you will make NYP stand out amongst the crowd. That is how many of your predecessors have come back to help, by paying it forward.
6. I hope this generation of NYP graduates similarly does so, by paying it forward, by coming back to NYP to help or reaching out beyond NYP to help those who are less privileged. If we can do that, then I'm sure we can continue to fly the flag high, not just for yourself or for NYP, but certainly for Singapore.

10. Challenges there will be. So long as we maintain our cohesion, our unity of purpose and have diverse ideas, I'm confident Singapore will continue to shine and be a land of opportunities, not just for you or this generation, but for many generations to come.

11. To do that, each and every one of us who is gifted in our own ways, will have to rise above the definition of success for ourselves. Our definition of success is never about our individual accomplishments alone, but about our collective contribution. Our definition of success is never about how well we do for ourselves in this generation, but how well we enable the next generation to do even better.

12. With that, I wish you all the best in your onward journey. Have a bright start. I was told that you are so blessed that this morning, not only did you have a shower of blessings, but you also had a full rainbow outside NYP to take your graduation photos with.

13. On that note, enjoy this moment, with an eye to the future. I look forward to you being a creator, connector and contributor in service of our nation.