SkillsFuture in a Globalised
and Digital Era
Bruce Poh
Executive Deputy Chairman, WorldSkills Singapore Council &
Chief Executive Officer, ITE Education Services
Singapore
Evolving TVET Landscape in Tandem with
Singapore’s Economic Development
General Education
Student-Centric,
Ability-Based Values Driven Education
Education
(2012 onwards)
(1997 – 2011)
Efficiency-Driven
Education
(1979 – 1996)
Survival-Driven
Education
Future Economy
Innovation &
(1959 – 1978)
Technology & Knowledge Intensive (2017 onwards)
(2000s)
Capital Intensive
Economic
Skills
(1980s-1990s)
Development
Intensive
Labour (1970s)
Skills for
Skills for the Future
Intensive
Employability
(2014 onwards)
(1960s)
Mass Skills Training (1990s – 2000s)
(1980s)
Institute of Technical Education
Basic Skills
(1992)
Vocational & Industrial
Training
Training Board (1979)
(1960s – 70s)
Industrial Training Board (1973)
Technical Education Department (1968)
TVET
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Drivers of Change
- Challenges & Opportunities in Singapore
Meeting Aspirations
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Committee of the Future Economy (CFE)
- 7 Strategies
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CFE Strategy 4
- Build Strong Digital Capabilities
 SkillsFuture Committee
highlighted the skills needed for
the future (CFE 2)
 CFE released report in Feb 2017
emphasizing on international
connection and globalization,
skills deepening, strengthening
enterprise capabilities and
developing strong digital
capabilities and supporting the
pervasive adoption of digital
technologies across all sectors
of the economy
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Key Thrusts of SkillsFuture
Individual
TVET
System
Workplace
 Help individuals to make wellinformed choices in education
and training, and in their careers
 Develop an integrated, high
quality system of education &
training that responds to
constantly evolving industry
needs
 Promote employer recognition
and career development based
on skills and mastery
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SkillsFuture Framework
Industry Transformation Map
(A skills and innovation-driven economy)
Jobs and Skills
Facilitate
Talent
Attraction
Enhance
Skills
Development
to meet
Future Needs
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Internationalisation
Build
Singaporean
Core
Achieve
ManpowerLean
Growth
Innovation
Productivity
Industry Manpower Plan (IMP)
Emerging Trends in ICT
- Cognitive Computing
 Simulation of
human thought
process in a
computerised
model
 Processing of new
data, recognising
patterns, automate
system to solve
problems without
human
interferences
Analytics and
Computational
Modelling
Data
Visualisation
Data
Strategy
Data
Design
Infrastructure
Strategy
Data
Engineering
Network
Configuration
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Emerging Trends in ICT
- Internet of Things (IoT)
 Inter-networking of
physical devices
embedded with
electronics, software,
sensors and network
connectivity which
enables objects to collect
and exchange data
Analytics and
Computational
Modelling
Security
Architecture
Security
Administration
Embedded
Systems
Interface
Embedded
Systems
Programming
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World Digital
Competitiveness Rankings 2017
1st Singapore
2nd Sweden
3rd USA
Source: IMD World Competitiveness Center
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The Advent of Industry 4.0
“Rolls-Royce is going digital with its
operations... Transforms its aerospace
engineering and other engine-related
businesses through the adoption of
Internet of Things and advanced data
analytics… offer value-added services
such as predictive maintenance...”
Lim Chuan Poh
Chairman / A* Star Singapore
“ASEAN business leaders need to guard
against "premature deindustrialisation",
where economies just on the verge of largescale industrialisation ... are overtaken by
post-industrial robotics which are so
inexpensive and productive that they can
even replace a workforce which is still
cheap by developed-world standards, but
already expensive and inefficient by robot
standards”
Ho Kwon Ping
Executive Chairman / Banyan Tree Holdings
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Early Exposure to Technology
“Applied Learning Programme in
Stem (science, technology,
engineering and mathematics) has
allowed students to apply their
classroom knowledge and fuel their
passion for robotics”
“ Learning computational thinking is a
valuable and vital life skills that enables our
pre-school children to be effective problemsolvers in the 21st century digital economy.”
Jonathan Chan
Jules Founder
Ng Chee Meng
Education Minister (Schools)
“ Algorithmic thinking means to do things
step by step. Decomposition means to break
something into smaller part”
Chloe Oh
6-year old Pre-Schooler
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Job Opportunities in ICT Sector
Survey by Media Development
Authority of Singapore in 2015
estimated that 53,000 new jobs
will be created by 2018… in areas
such as data analytics, software
engineering,
cyber
security,
digital
marketing,
artificial
intelligence, virtual reality and
the Internet of Thing (IoT)
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“ Technology and innovation
should not be allowed to
divide the workforce, but
should be used to create
better jobs and working
conditions for people”
Lim Swee Say
Minister for Manpower
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Thank you!
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