Vocational learning the vogue for more students
ITE applications grew 10% over 10 years with many drawn to its practical teaching style
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Mr Dino Tan (left) said his course in space design technology has equipped him with essential workplace skills. Nur Sabrina Norazmi said ITE lecturers play a key role in helping students learn. ITE graduate Lim Hong Jin took a Technical Engineer Diploma in Machine Technology to gain more practical industry knowledge.
ST PHOTO: NIVASH JOYVIN
They used to call it the last resort for academically weak students - and some even said it stood for "it's the end". But the ITE, or Institute of Technical Education, has become a means to an end for many students who go on to further studies, and more are now knocking on its doors.
Over the last 10 years, the number of applications to the institute has risen by more than 10 per cent, ITE director and chief executive Bruce Poh told The Straits Times, without giving absolute figures.
While the post-secondary institution's annual intake has consistently ranged between 14,000 and 15,000, it has been admitting an increasing proportion of each Primary 1 cohort.
Last year, it took 24.5 per cent of the Primary 1 cohort into its full-time Nitec (National ITE certificate) and Higher Nitec courses, up from 20.6 per cent in 2010.
This growth comes amid falling birth cohort sizes. Around 38,600 students were posted to secondary schools this year, down from about 50,000 a decade ago.
Mr Poh, who is stepping down from his post in February after joining ITE in 2007, said society is changing its perception of vocational careers and is now "a lot more accepting and encouraging".
He has played a key role in strengthening the curricula at ITE, which now offers 101 full-time courses - up from 24 in 1992. These include three niche technical diplomas offered in partnership with institutions in Germany and France.
Mr Poh added that its three college campuses include facilities that simulate industry settings, from a 22-room campus hotel to a movie theatre to training hospital wards.
Aerospace students, for instance, get to train on an actual Boeing 737, and precision engineering students practise with computer numerical control laser-cutting machines, which are computer-aided tools.
Students and graduates said they chose the ITE after hearing from seniors and teachers about its practical style of teaching and learning.
Second-year student Dino Tan took up a Higher Nitec course in space design technology after considering options such as a business IT polytechnic diploma and an art course at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
He said the course at ITE College Central has equipped him with essential workplace skills that involve the use of software, for instance, which has come in handy for his internship with an architecture firm that he is now on.
"We learn about designing spaces inside and outside of buildings, how both connect… We also study commercial buildings, residential buildings - things like the relationship between colours and the placement of furniture," said the 22-year-old, who hopes to study sustainability design in university.
Nur Sabrina Norazmi, who is in her first year at ITE College East, took her secondary school teacher's advice to consider the ITE after taking her N levels last year.
"I'm not a textbook-kind of person, and I didn't do so well in my exams," said the 17-year-old, who is now studying logistics services.
"I like the course because it's half engineering, half business management. Some of the modules are conducted in a logistics warehouse, and we also get to learn skills like setting up our own businesses."
Her ITE lecturers play a key role in helping students learn, she added. "Even though we might not pay so much attention, they will go through the lesson over and over again until we listen to them.
"They also help us to see beyond school and think about our future."
