FRANKFURT • Education Minister Ong Ye Kung called for more "enlightened self-interest" from Singapore companies last Friday, as the Ministry of Education (MOE) ramps up company-driven workplace learning for students.

A day after he announced that 12 per cent of each student cohort would go through MOE's work-study pathway by 2030 - up from 3 per cent currently - he said much would depend on companies being willing to take in and train students, knowing that they may eventually work elsewhere in the industry.

"You need very enlightened companies to do this. Companies that are prepared to take in students and train them knowing that I may hire them or I may not," said Mr Ong, who was speaking in Germany. He was accompanying President Halimah Yacob on her five-day state visit to the country that ended on Friday.

He added: "And if I don't, I must have the enlightened self-interest to think that training these students and letting them go out to the industry is better on the whole, because then more people will know about my products and the quality of my production."

MOE's work-study pathway is a relatively new initiative, with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) launching its work-study diplomas in April last year.

Companies work in tandem with ITE to train the students over 21/2 years to three years, with 70 per cent of the curriculum time spent at the workplace.

About 600 students are expected to begin training under ITE's 24 work-study diploma programmes next year, with 268 companies working with ITE for the 2020 intake.

There are also a number of work-study programmes in local universities that allow adult learners to earn a degree while working.

Asked why MOE wanted to quadruple the number of students undergoing work-study programmes by 2030, Mr Ong pointed to the technological advancement that is drastically altering the job landscape today.

"In times of change and uncertainty, you have to go back to basics, which are the core competencies... The best people to teach that sometimes is the industry, the people undergoing all these changes," he said.

"For us in (educational) institutions, although the system is strong and rigorous, you can't keep up with all the changes happening."

Singapore and Germany signed seven memorandums of understanding and agreements in education, six of them between ITE and German partners for a series of industrial attachments.