SINGAPORE – Education Minister Chan Chun Sing has called on industry leaders to collaborate with institutes of higher learning and continuing education providers here to help design their curricula and act as adjunct faculty.
Such a move would allow businesses to influence the next generation of talent, and let these institutions tap their technology when training students.
There needs to be a “tight nexus” between industry and academia, who can work together to “produce the workers of tomorrow ahead of time”, Mr Chan said on May 6.
He added that this would help address concerns by businesses that graduating students here do not have the skill sets relevant to industry.
Some institutions here have already made efforts to work more closely with industry in such a manner.
In 2023, Ngee Ann Polytechnic announced that as part of its new Industry-in-Curriculum framework, all full-time diploma programmes will have industry partners involved in developing and delivering at least a third of the curriculum to better align learning with industry demands.
Mr Chan was speaking during a dialogue, which was titled Cultivating Tomorrow’s AI Leaders, held in conjunction with the 37th CIO Workshop.
Speaking with Accenture Singapore country managing director Mark Tham, Mr Chan – who is also Minister-in-charge of the Public Service – said that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) could play a role in reskilling workers.
He noted that pedagogical techniques used for children in a school setting are different from those for adults, who are of different ages and work in different industries.
Mr Chan suggested that gen AI could be harnessed to provide personalised training for adult learners of such differing backgrounds.
While concerns have been raised about gen AI, such as bias and misuse, Mr Chan stressed that Singapore has nothing to fear from the technology and has instead sought to harness it.
“We always embrace new technologies and see how they can complement our finite manpower,” he said.
Singapore’s updated national AI strategy, announced in December 2023, aims to triple the Republic’s AI workforce to 15,000 by training locals as well as hiring from overseas.
Organised by global IT services and consulting firm Accenture and the Information Technology Management Association, the CIO Workshop is an annual forum where chief information officers (CIOs) share best practices and discuss prevailing IT management issues.
The event, held at the W Singapore Sentosa Cove hotel on May 6, was attended by more than 280 CIOs and IT leaders.
The 2024 event includes a four-day study trip to Shanghai and Hangzhou in China to learn how these cities apply AI in the real world.
