24/07/2019

Additional Initiatives To Prepare Workforce For Industry 4.0

At the SkillsFuture Festival @ NUS (SFF@NUS) today, themed ‘Industry 4.0 and the Future of Skills’, Mr Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry & Ministry of Education announced three new initiatives to prepare the workforce for Industry 4.0.

Working with Anchor Companies To Train-for-Sector

First, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), Bosch Rexroth, Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Singapore Polytechnic and JTC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the Bosch Rexroth Regional Training Centre (BRRTC) in Singapore. The Centre will be located in the Jurong Innovation District (JID), Singapore’s advanced manufacturing campus, and it will play a key role to meet the latest technological, training and talent needs of the Advanced Manufacturing companies in Singapore and the region. 

Specifically, BRRTC will deliver and certify Industry 4.0 Specialists meeting the German Industrie –und Handelskammer (IHK) standard in Southeast Asia. Beyond training and certification, Bosch Rexroth will also collaborate with companies to testbed Industry 4.0 Proof of Concept projects, support implementation of solutions and develop companies’ expertise through use cases. This will help to accelerate industry transformation and also upgrade Industry 4.0 skills and capabilities in Singapore and the region.

New IHL Programmes In Emerging Skills

Second, the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) will continue to ramp up the delivery of training in emerging and future skills needed for Industry 4.0 through the SkillsFuture Series.  Launched in 2017, the number SkillsFuture Series courses has increased three-fold from 400 to over 1,500. As at Mar 2019, close to 40,000 individuals have taken up SkillsFuture Series programmes. 

Looking ahead, the Institute of Systems Science at NUS (NUS-ISS) signed two MoUs with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) and Temasek Polytechnic (TP). Under this MOU, NUS-ISS will collaborate with NP and TP to recognise NP’s new Specialist Diploma in Business & Decision Analytics, and TP’s Specialist Diploma in Big Data Analytics offered under the SkillsFuture Work-Study Post Diploma Programme (previously known as the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme). Selected modules can stack towards NUS-ISS’s Master of Technology (MTech) programmes. 

The National University of Singapore (NUS) has also developed the “NUS All-You-Can-Learn™” initiative, which will enable organisations to help their constituents acquire skills and expertise in the emerging areas of Data Analytics, Cybersecurity, Machine Learning, Design Thinking and Human Capital Practices. NUS has partnered 10 organisations through this initiative, of which five organisations, namely the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Institute for Human Resource Professionals, Korn Ferry, National University Health System and United Overseas Bank inked MoUs with NUS today to jointly express their commitment.

In addition, the IHLs introduced other new programmes and courses relevant to Industry 4.0:

i. Master of Science in Industry 4.0 by National University of Singapore

ii. Masters Collective by Ngee Ann Polytechnic

iii. Micro Learning Course on Industry 4.0 by Temasek Polytechnic

iv. Specialist Diploma in Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality by Nanyang Polytechnic

More information on the MoUs that have been signed and the new IHL programmes are in Annex A and Annex B respectively.

Helping Singaporeans Make Informed Choices in Education, Training and Careers with Jobs-Skills Insights

Third, to help individuals, enterprises and IHLs navigate the rapidly evolving skills and job landscape, and make informed choices, SSG is working with partners such as BurningGlass Technologies, Indeed.com and JobTech, to provide Jobs-Skills Insights for all three stakeholders.

The Jobs-Skills Insights will draw on timely, quality and relevant data from these partners based on key themes, such as jobs and skills in demand across industries, the changing mix of job roles and skills requirements, and emerging skills needs. SSG will curate and share these Jobs-Skills Insights on a regular basis through reports, dashboards, and other relevant commentaries and articles.

The Jobs-Skills Insights will help:

a) individuals stay updated on industry transformation trends, job-skills trends and skills gaps via profiling tools, to better inform their skills and career development plans;

b) employers develop their transformation plans and invest in training for their employees for career development and skills upgrading, through data on growth sectors and skills needs, and future workforce solutions planning tools; and

c) IHLs and training providers design programmes more effectively to address changes in job roles and industry needs. They can use the insights to design courses that continue to be relevant for future cohorts.