Private education provider Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) will give its graduating cohort opportunities to get additional qualifications and new skills to boost employability, and will enhance its bursary support for students with financial difficulties.
The institute will participate as a host company under the SGUnited Traineeships programme to offer traineeship opportunities for graduates, its president and chief executive Seah Chin Siong said yesterday.
Priority will be given to SIM graduates with a good fit for the available traineeships.
The Government has promised 21,000 places - up from 8,000 initially - for polytechnic, Institute of Technical Education and university graduates in the SGUnited Traineeships programme that aims to prepare them for employment when the economy picks up after the Covid-19 pandemic.
These stints will last up to 12 months, with trainees receiving a monthly allowance, which will vary depending on the scope of the traineeship and skills required.
Mr Seah was speaking via Facebook Live during an SIM charity show event, where a donation drive for the Invictus Fund, for vulnerable individuals and families affected by Covid-19, was held.
SIM has pledged a donation of $10,000 to the fund.
For graduates interested in taking up postgraduate diploma programmes, a $1,500 grant will be offered for courses in business analytics, digital marketing or human resource management for the upcoming intakes in September and January next year. Each is a one-year, part-time programme.
Short courses in specific skills such as financial technology, blockchain, artificial intelligence, industry analyst programmes, robotic process automation, and Python and R programming will be heavily subsidised as well. The courses will run from August.
SIM will also offer a series of six free webinars on topics related to the current crisis and the "new normal". The live webinars will feature thought leaders and industry experts on topics such as design thinking and hyper performance strategies, said SIM.
The webinars will be held every fortnight, on Wednesday. The first one was on May 20, and the series will run until August.
SIM will also offer online courses later this year on building leadership skills, resilience and strategies to manage stress and change.
These measures for the graduating cohort come as "all signs indicate that the job market will be severely impacted in the months ahead", said Mr Seah.
Meanwhile, to support current students, the institute has committed an additional $100,000 to top up its bursary awards. Eligible recipients will have their award increased from the current $2,000 to $2,400 this year, tenable for one year of study.
"This fund will also enable us to increase the number of bursaries to help more students who are financially distressed. With this additional support, I hope these students can continue to concentrate and do well in their studies," said Mr Seah.
