Enrolment in Sustainability-related Fields in Institutes of Higher Learning to Meet Demands of Green Economy

Ms Foo Mee Har asked the Minister for Education (a) what are the enrolment rates for the new courses and programmes in sustainability-related fields since they were introduced in the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs); and (b) how does the pipeline of talent from IHLs meet the demand expected from the green economy.

The Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) play an important role in preparing our youths and workforce to seize emerging opportunities, including in the green economy. They work closely with industry partners to identify emerging demand for green skills and develop and update training programmes to meet these manpower needs.

Across IHLs, there are over 800 students in the 2022 intake for full-time Pre-Employment Training (PET) programmes that are related to environmental sustainability. The IHLs are also introducing new modules and second majors relating to sustainability in other PET programmes. More generally, IHL students have exposure to sustainability-related topics through their curricula and other learning activities.

IHLs also offer more than 250 sustainability-related Continuing Education and Training (CET) courses. These courses prepare working adults for emerging green jobs or existing jobs that are going to be "greened". These include courses on transferable green skills, such as carbon footprint management, that support greening across multiple sectors, as well as courses that provide specialised skills training in specific areas, such as sustainable built environment, green engineering solutions, green finance and environmental sciences. These courses have more than 19,000 enrolments as of October 2022 since their launch.

MOE will continue to support the IHLs to refresh and expand their sustainability-related PET and CET course offerings. This will ensure that we develop a strong pipeline of talent to meet the emerging demands of the green economy.