Debated in Parliament on 10 Sep 2012.
Mr Teo Siong Seng asked the Minister for Education (a) whether his Ministry has conducted any studies to map the current curriculum offered by the Polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) against manpower demand by local companies for more Singaporeans to handle technical and industrial jobs; (b) whether the current education system has produced sufficient rank-and-file Singapore workers; and (c) how many ITE graduates are employed by local SMEs currently.
Every year, the Ministries of Manpower and Education, the economic agencies, as well as our post-Secondary institutions will come together to discuss the manpower needs for the Singapore economy in the coming years. The discussion will also include broad plans and indicative intakes for programmes and courses to be offered by our universities, polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).
Our Polytechnics and the ITE have a robust curriculum development and review process to ensure that their graduates have good employment prospects, including at local companies. Their Academic Advisory Committees comprising industry leaders and professionals advise them on wider trends and developments in the sector, so that curricula and teaching methods develop our students well for the demands of their chosen careers.
ITE graduates today enjoy good employment rates – over 87% of them are employed within six months of graduation. Although we do not have precise data on the number of ITE graduates in the small and medium enterprises, we know many are employed in local companies in various positions, ranging from frontline service staff to managerial roles.
While our ITE and Polytechnics have prepared our students well for their careers, there is currently a shortage of workers which is being met by a controlled intake of foreign workers.
PAPERCUTS