SINGAPORE - Republic Polytechnic (RP) on Thursday (Jan 7) launched new initiatives at its annual Open House (Jan 7-9), to give students more opportunities to master skills and better engage industry partners, in line with the SkillsFuture movement.
The initiatives include a new food formulation laboratory, enhanced internships, and a new "design-centric" engineering diploma programme.
The new food formulation lab, called Nu3Lab, aims to support the food manufacturing industry in addressing consumer demands and introducing new and improved products with health benefits.
RP said the lab will give its students hands-on learning experience and strengthen the capabilities of F&B industry players. Companies can carry out tests and formulate healthier products at the facility.
ITE and polytechnic students enrolled in biomedical science courses can also look forward to several enhancements to the internships for them. For instance, from April this year, the duration of the internship will be raised to a minimum of 16 weeks, up from the current baseline of eight weeks.
Specific internship learning outcomes will also be defined based on respective job profiles, and tasks will be assigned to students to achieve these outcomes, allowing them to deepen their mastery of industry-relevant skills, said RP.
The polytechnic will also introduce a new Diploma in Engineering Design with Business in the new academic year, which starts in April. It said the launch of the new diploma is in response to increased demand for engineering professionals with multi-disciplinary skills.
RP will also collaborate with the Action Community for Entrepreneurship and Design Business Chamber Singapore to introduce internships, joint projects, company visits and seminars to encourage students' entrepreneurial pursuits.
Commenting on the new initiatives, RP principal Yeo Li Pheow said: "This year's Open House will mark our deeper industry collaborations and partnerships, as we continue to raise the bar on the learning experiences we provide to every RP student, equipping them with enhanced skills and industry relevance to excel in their future careers."
