23/11/2015

IE Singapore Extends Overseas Internship Opportunities Under Young Talent Programme To Polytechnic Students

International Enterprise (IE) Singapore signed five MOUs today, extending overseas internship opportunities under the Young Talent Programme (YTP) - Market Immersion programme to students of all five polytechnics in Singapore. An initiative under the national SkillsFuture movement, the programme will enable students of Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic to gain global exposure with local and international companies. The programme, which was previously only available to university students¹, have supported over 1,400 students in gaining overseas exposure since 2013.

Guest-of-Honour, Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) & Senior Minister of State (MOS), Ministry of Defence, Mr Ong Ye Kung, witnessed the signing ceremony. In his opening address, Acting Minister / MOS Ong urged students to seize learning opportunities overseas to broaden their career prospects. He also highlighted the need for companies to be globally competitive through skills-upgrade, innovation and internationalisation².

Global-ready Talent Essential For Internationalisation

In a recent internationalisation survey conducted by IE Singapore, 40% of Singapore companies expressed intent to increase the number of global roles for their staff in the next one year. However, one of the key challenges is finding talent with the right skill-sets and experience to take on these global roles.

Citing the importance of developing the right talent pool for Singapore, Teo Eng Cheong, Chief Executive Officer, IE Singapore, said, “With the global economy becoming increasingly connected, more and more of our companies must have a strong global presence in order to be competitive, productive and innovative. Students must prepare themselves to adapt and thrive in environment outside of Singapore. IE Singapore’s Young Talent Programme seeks to expose students to this environment through internships in an overseas outfit such as the overseas subsidiaries of Singapore companies. This will give the students hands-on and pragmatic experience of working and living outside their comfort zone. Extending the YTP-Market Immersion programme to our Polytechnics students will equip more talents to support the internationalisation journeys of Singapore companies.”

Industry Players Crucial In Supporting Ie Singapore-polytechnics Partnership

In September this year, 63 students participated in the pilot run of the YTP-Market Immersion overseas internships with the polytechnics. Participating companies include Ascott Group and Procter and Gamble. Students undertook 3 to 22 weeks-long internships worldwide, including Australia, China, Germany, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Ms Tan Mui Hong, The Ascott Limited’s Vice President for Human Resource, said: “Ascott is committed to developing talents as we expand globally. With our network of serviced residences in 95 cities around the world, we aim to equip our young talents with a deep understanding of international hospitality trends and provide them with on-the-job experience. Besides training staff and students through our partnership with IE Singapore and various Ascott initiatives including a global exchange programme, we are the first serviced residence company with a dedicated training centre, Ascott Centre for Excellence.” Ascott is the world’s largest international serviced residence owner operator.

Just two weeks ago, IE Singapore launched the International Trade Associate Programme (ITAP) to build a sustainable talent pipeline for Singapore’s trade sector. It is supported by the International Chamber of Commerce Academy, 17 founding industry players from trading and finance companies and four polytechnics (Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic). Graduates of this program will participate in industry internships and receive a Global Trade Certificate.

Through the extension of the YTP-Market Immersion programme to Polytechnics, the programme will support over 200 polytechnic students annually. The programme also hopes to encourage greater industry partnerships in talent development and the strengthening of human resource management strategies within organisations.