Certis staff will have the opportunity to experience virtual-reality (VR) based training courses in security that will teach them, through simulations, how to handle and react to real-life situations.

This will be possible for those who enrol at the new Certis Corporate University (CCU), which was launched yesterday. The newly renovated $10 million facility is in Toh Tuck Terrace.

Students will also learn about app-based security systems such as the Argus, which uses facial recognition technology to detect intruders and alert Certis officers, allowing them to respond to potential threats within two minutes.

The security firm has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), leveraging the capabilities of the CCU to look into improving skills and know-how across the security sector, among other aims.

Additionally, the MOU will enable Certis and SSG to help firms re-engineer their business process, upgrade staff skills and build a talent pipeline for the security industry.

There will be a special focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, smaller security agencies, and users of Certis services.

Education Minister Ong Ye Kung, who officially launched the university, said it was necessary for significant industry leaders such as Certis to take the lead in transforming the security industry by upgrading the skills of workers and embracing technology.

"While government agencies such as JTC Corporation and SSG can play an important catalytic and supportive role, it is the players in the industry that bring real and sustained change.

"Industry leaders can take the lead and bring along other players in the industry, and along the value chain," he said.

He added that it was important for companies such as Certis, that he termed "Queen Bees", to take on the special responsibility of working hard, and growing new players in the industry.

"As the SkillsFuture movement grows and evolves, we need to invest more efforts to partner Queen Bee companies," Mr Ong said.

Certis estimates that within the next three years, around 20,000 Certis employees will benefit from the more than 30 programmes at the corporate university, which will cover topics from data analytics to robotics and automation.

Mr Paul Chong, president and group chief executive of Certis, said that those who attend CCU will pick up lifelong skills that are practical and applicable in the security industry, and other industries as well.

"We are training workers to be digital ready, multi-skilled and prepared to lead in a new, volatile and uncertain world," he said.

Security officers will be trained to carry out tasks related to facility management and technology, so that the same worker can function well, with industry-relevant skill sets, he added.

Mr Kumaraveloo Chinnaiah, 52, a trainer at CCU, will teach Certis trainees through a multi-step process that involves online theory courses, VR simulations and practical examinations.

In the Learning Management System, students will have a dashboard to check their progress, while simulations of plausible real-life scenarios, such as fires and bomb threats, will give the students the opportunity to test their knowledge and readiness to address similar situations.

"Now, with our online learning platform, officers need not come all the way back to campus for examinations," said Mr Kumaraveloo.