SINGAPORE - Public officers will have access to online classrooms offering a wide range of lessons supplied by Singapore's institutes of higher learning (IHLs) and an online provider with more than 2,500 courses at its disposal.
It is the first time the Civil Service College (CSC) is partnering the 12 IHLs in a whole-of-government effort to support public sector transformation and the transformation of learning in the sector.
On Tuesday (July 17), the CSC signed an agreement with the IHLs - comprising the five polytechnics, six local universities and the Institute of Technical Education - and Udemy for Government, an approved massive open online courses provider.
Speaking at the SkillsFuture Festival @ SMU event, CSC dean and chief executive Ong Toon Hui said the world is going digital and the public service is no different.
"Going digital means that officers are no longer limited to classroom training. It offers them greater agility and flexibility," said Ms Ong.
The partnership dovetails with the public service-wide digital learning platform that the CSC is developing for its officers.
In a statement, the college said: "The IHLs will work with CSC to curate relevant SkillsFuture Series modules that will train the public sector workforce in important emerging skills areas.
"When launched, the platform will provide just-in-time learning resources for rapid upskilling, such as in digital literacy, which Minister-in-charge of the Public Service Chan Chun Sing mentioned as a core skill for public officers at the recent Public Service Transformation Award Ceremony."
At the July 4 event, Mr Chan, who is also Trade and Industry Minister, outlined four skill sets public servants need to develop - digital skills; design thinking; systems thinking; collaboration with Singaporeans.
These are needed, he said, for a new mindset which will see more empathetic policies and programmes designed from the citizen's point of view.
The CSC said topics covered under the curated list of courses include leadership and management, data analytics and productivity.
After creating an account with CSC, officers will be able to search from a catalogue of online courses. The online digital learning platform will allow them 24/7 access to bite-size content through mediums such as videos, infographics, articles and quizzes.
The CSC said that besides providing public officers with digital learning, the platform will connect officers across the entire public service, "facilitating cross-agency social and peer-learning, and creating a more connected government in the process".
