Temasek Poly graduates to get new skills transcript listing internships, soft skills
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Temasek Polytechnic student Justin How Wei Inn receiving his diploma and the Lee Kwan Yew Award from Minister for Education Desmond Lee (left) during the Temasek Polytechnic graduation ceremony on May 8.
ST PHOTO: JASEL POH
- Temasek Polytechnic (TP) graduates will receive a digital skills transcript outlining internships, soft skills, and co-curricular activities, starting this graduating cohort.
- The skills transcript helps graduates clearly communicate capabilities to employers, validating attributes assessed by industry partners and redefining success beyond grades.
- Alongside the transcript, TP offers a "career kickstarter" with curated job opportunities, practical guidance, and employment support to help graduates secure roles.
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SINGAPORE – Students graduating from Temasek Polytechnic in 2026 will be the first to get a skills transcript outlining their internship experiences and soft skills, alongside their diploma, said Education Minister Desmond Lee.
The skills transcript will also list the student’s co-curricular activities (CCAs) and project-based experiences, he added, addressing the graduating class from the School of Applied Science on May 8 at a ceremony held at TP’s campus in Tampines.
The skills transcript, which is available digitally, will help graduates communicate their capabilities to employers with greater clarity, and find jobs that match their interests and skills, Mr Lee said.
“You are the first graduating cohort to receive this skills transcript, which captures your abilities, skills and talent beyond just academic achievement, to include other important things employers are looking at,” he said.
Some 4,100 full-time TP students graduating this month will receive this skills transcript with personalised summaries of their skills and attributes in the areas of academic, co-curricular and experiential achievements.
Attributes include inquisitiveness, resilience, digital fluency and innovation, and are “independently assessed and validated by external parties, such as internship supervisors and industry partners”, a spokesman for TP said.
For employers, the transcript offers a verified record of a candidate’s skills.
Minister for Education Desmond Lee giving his speech during the Temasek Polytechnic graduation ceremony on May 8.
ST PHOTO: JASEL POH
TP students can also use the transcript to track their skill acquisition in real-time, allowing them to make more informed decisions regarding subjects, projects and CCAs, the spokesman added.
Mr Lee said graduates are entering the world in a time when the global environment is becoming more complex while technology is advancing rapidly, noting that Singapore is also facing a growing population and young people have more diverse aspirations.
“But we should not fear these changes,” he said. “While they may bring risks, they will also create significant opportunities for us to become more efficient, transform our economy... reimagine a stronger society and a better world if we have the grit and gumption to seize the chances that come our way.”
School initiatives such as TP’s skills transcript will help students to seize such opportunities, Mr Lee said.
He also highlighted TP’s career kick-starter initiative, which provides graduates access to curated job opportunities, career guidance and employment support.
They include contract roles of up to 12 months, a structured job-matching process, access to 20 career coaches and curated job listings and employer partnerships, said the TP spokesman.
More than 600 job opportunities were made available to the graduating cohort, he added, with another 50 opportunities within TP itself.
Beyond employer support, TP is also making seven artificial intelligence courses free for alumni for a $50 administrative fee. Courses cover topics in app creation and using gen AI to improve visualisation and storytelling techniques.
Over 5,600 TP students will be graduating from May 4 to 11, including those from five new part-time programmes, like the Diploma in Immersive Media and Game Development, and Specialist Diploma in Applied Autism Studies.
For 28-year-old graduate Justin How, the skills transcript is more than a document; it is a reflection of how far he has come in his education journey.
Mr How originally dropped out of an early childhood course at TP in 2016 after realising it was not the right fit for him. After two unsuccessful re-applications in 2017 and 2018, and completing his national service, he returned to TP at age 25 to enrol in the Common ICT Programme.
On May 8, he graduated with a 4.0 GPA and won the Lee Kuan Yew Award.
Temasek Polytechnic graduate Justin How Wei Inn at the Temasek Polytechnic graduation ceremony on May 8.
ST PHOTO: JASEL POH
But more than his grades and award, he said he is proudest of the fact that he managed to pursue his interests in cybersecurity and gave back to the community, which, for the first time, will be reflected in a skills transcript.
Mr How’s skills transcript states how he led the Cybersecurity and Digitial Forensics Student Interest Group, and founded SparkCTF, a capture-the-flag style cybersecurity competition for Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics students.
It will also list how he headed the welfare team in a peer support CCA, worked with mental health initiatives, and led initiatives such as the Youth Cyber Exploration Programme.
“The skills transcript tells employers about who we are,” Mr How said, where previously, students only had their GPA to show. “This tells the story of our skills.”
It also redefines success beyond grades, he said, which for some may look like passion in sports, while for others, determination as they try new things.
“For me, success means giving back to society,” Mr How said. He will be heading to Nanyang Technological University in August to pursue a degree in computer science.
