SINGAPORE - The National University of Singapore's Institute of Systems Science has, for the first time, made its annual Learning Day part of Singapore's month-long SkillsFuture Festival.
Besides the usual promotion of skills upgrading and lifelong learning, the 4th edition of NUS-ISS Learning Day on Friday (July 13) at the Institute of Systems Science focused on eight emerging skills - data analytics, finance, tech-enabled services, digital media, cyber security, entrepreneurship, advanced manufacturing and urban solutions.
Young learners, working professionals and the unemployed were encouraged to equip themselves with the eight skills which SkillsFuture Singapore has identified as key areas in the technology industry for the future.
The event on Friday offered experiential learning experiences through talks, panel discussions and demonstrations of five projects by graduate programme students and staff. All used technology to solve real-world problems.
Ms Choong Yue Lin, 35, showcased the iPose - a system that uses a webcam to recognise real-time human posture. It can be programmed for a variety of uses, such as identifying bad posture and suggesting corrections, or aiding nursing homes to spot when residents fall down.
"I've always wanted to learn artificial intelligence, but when I was studying, there weren't many courses offered as it was still a very new concept back then," said Ms Choong, who graduated from Monash University 12 years ago.
She quit her job in the payment card industry last year to focus on her studies and worked with her lecturer, Dr Tian Jing, to develop the iPose in the final semester of her part-time course, Knowledge Engineering.
Over 400 people turned up for Friday's event, 40 per cent more than last year.
"It's always good to attend this kind of events and learn more, even if it's just from seeing the projects and listening to the talks, especially when there is a lot of discussion and buzz about this industry. These skills wouldn't just help me, but also help my company as a whole when brought back to the workplace," said Ms Then Hui Loo, 32, from the Learning and Development Team of Singapore Airlines.
"With the whole country moving towards addressing emerging skills, there is a pressing need to have more digital talent in every sector of the industry. Companies are digitalising their solutions to real-life problems and require their employees to adapt, upskill and reskill for the future jobs of tomorrow," said Mr Khoong Chan Meng, chief executive officer of the institute.
