More work-study programmes for ITE, tertiary students

Work-study programmes at the post-secondary level will be expanded, with two new programmes to be rolled out this year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced on Tuesday (March 7).

One caters to Institute of Technical Education (ITE) graduates, while the other will be offered by the National University of Singapore (NUS) to undergraduates.

The SkillsFuture Earn and Learn Programme will be extended to include a new work-learn pathway for ITE graduates to deepen their skills as they study for an ITE Technical Diploma. It is designed to give fresh graduates from ITEs and polytechnics a head-start in careers related to their discipline of study, and it will be introduced in sectors including mechanical and electrical services design and supervision, security system engineering, as well as offshore and marine engineering. These technical diplomas will be offered by ITE.

Right now, ITE graduates enrolled in Earn and Learn Programmes work towards a part-time diploma, offered by the polytechnics. Meanwhile, polytechnic graduates in the programme work towards an advanced or specialist diploma. There are 40 such programmes across 23 sectors, including healthcare, food services and infocomm technology.

ITE presently offers three specialised diplomas: Technical Diploma in Culinary Arts, Technical Engineering Diploma in Automative Engineering, as well as Technical Engineer Diploma in Machine Technology. These are offered in partnership with foreign instituitions.

The other work-study programme by NUS will start in the upcoming academic year, making it the third university to offer such a programme here. Courses on offer will be in information security and business analytics, as well as data science and analytics.

The Singapore Institute of Technology and SIM University are the other two that would be offering seven SkillsFuture Work-Study Degree Programmes in the second half of the year, as announced earlier in February by MOE.
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Undergraduates who take up such programmes spend up to four days a week at work with the partner-employers, and have at least one day set aside for studies.