Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Welcome to the 6th Singapore Learning Festival (SLF). This year's festival organised by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) continues our efforts in inculcating a habit of lifelong learning in Singaporeans. For this year's SLF, WDA has decided to centre it around the services sectors, as its contribution to the Go-the-Extra Mile for Service (GEMS) Movement. Today, I will also be launching and presenting certificates to the first graduates of Singapore's new Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) System. The WSQ system will increase the value and recognition of new skills and qualifications that workers obtain through their upgrading efforts.
Gearing Up for Growth - New opportunities and jobs
Overall, the Singapore economy in 2004 and 2005 has improved compared to preceding years. We expect our economy to grow at 3.5% to 4.5% this year. In the last 18 months, 121,000 new jobs were created, compared with 36,000 job losses from 2001 to 2003. As at Jun this year, employment is the highest on record, with 2.26 million people in our workforce. Unemployment rate has dipped below 3.5%.
2. More opportunities and good-paying jobs will be available for Singaporeans as we grow new engines in our economy. We are moving up the value chain in manufacturing, going into activities with high knowledge content, such as Bioscience and R&D. Major petrochemical players are considering the set-up of new plants in Singapore.
3. We are also growing the services sectors, in finance, healthcare, tourism, and making a name in the creative industries and the arts. Tourist arrivals in the past few months are almost 10% more than compared to the same period last year. This year's Singapore Sale was the best ever $5 billion worth of sales. And when the Integrated Resorts are up and running by around 2009, we can expect a much bigger wave of tourists. Riding on these trends, the STB aims to double visitor arrivals, triple tourism receipts and add 100,000 new jobs to the tourism industry in the next ten years.
4. International investors have cast their vote of confidence in Singapore, when they decided to stake their money in Singapore for major projects. When URA tendered out the Business Financial District an area about the same size as Suntec City it received very strong bids from private investors. Keen interest for the development at Orchard Turn, the Integrated Resorts and rising property prices also indicate that international investors have strong confidence in Singapore's ability to transform itself and grow. These new activities will continue to propel the Singapore economy ahead.
5. We must gear up for this new wave of growth. With these new activities, we will need bankers, IT specialists, computer animators, retail store managers, doctors, professional nurses, hotel managers, executive chefs. We will also need clerical staff, administrators, security officers, technicians, room attendants, restaurant assistants, and all kinds of apprentices. Singaporeans can do all these jobs with pride and professionalism and make a decent living if they add worth to their employers and companies.
6. But for us to entrench these activities, we must be able to compete with other capital cities in the region which also have talent that are skilled and hardworking. Singapore needs to differentiate itself and go the extra mile and provide superior service. For example, medical treatment in our hospitals must be special not just confined to superior clinical skills, but service excellence should extend to the entire system, from the moment the patient arrives at the airport or calls for an ambulance right through to his after care. This should include call centres manned in different languages so that patients here and abroad can contact their physicians easily. And a sale in Singapore should be no ordinary sale. The products must be up-to-date, the service staff must be knowledgeable, have excellent service skills, and if they can, speak more than one language.
7. We must ensure that we have enough workers with the right service skills and standards to keep them coming for more the next year. All Singaporeans can have a part to promote Singapore. That is why Singaporeans must participate whole-heartedly in the GEMS Movement. If each of us plays our part, then service excellence can be a competitive advantage for Singapore.
The Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) System
8. But this journey to re-invent and transform Singapore to make ourselves relevant to the 21st century world cannot be left to specific government agencies, unions or employer organisations. All Singaporeans workers too must embrace lifelong learning and have a constant desire to improve. It is with this spirit that our founding fathers overcame their challenges. It is the same spirit that will help us progress further.
9. On the Government's part, we will put into place a nationally recognised training and qualifications system the WSQ. This will help improve greatly the standards of training that adult workers receive.
10. The WSQ will run parallel and complement the qualifications systems that we have for pre-employment learning. Qualifications from ITE, the polytechnics, and the three local universities, are all of high standards and internationally accepted as stamps of quality. They open up pathways for good jobs and careers.
11. However, we need an alternate pathway, to cater to those who have left the school system and are in the workforce. It cannot be based on academic aptitude alone but must be also trades and skills-based and take into account practical working experience. The WSQ system should help us develop high quality in varied trades such as chefs, even tze-cha cooks, fashion designers, computer game developers or furniture makers. Because economic cycles are shorter and workers may lose jobs and need to find new ones, the WSQ system must enable mid-career adults to train for new vocations. Through WSQ, WDA, in partnership with various industries will step up these efforts to provide such multiple tracks of training, and to serve our workforce through their lifetime of employment.
12. How will WSQ help achieve these objectives? The WSQ will add value in four ways. First, it will act as a national stamp of approval. So a worker armed with a WSQ qualification will have his skills recognised nationally, by employers and governmental organisations.
13. Second, because the WSQ is developed with inputs from industry, it provides the basis to develop training programmes that are tailor-made to the needs of adult workers, focusing on practical skills that industries need.
14. Third, it is an open and accessible system. So you may not need an `N´ level or `O´ level to enrol yourself in a course that leads to a WSQ certificate. WSQ will recognise your prior learning, including relevant practical working experience. So workers who had qualifications or certifications in NITEC or National Skills Recognition System (NSRS) can build on them to attain WSQ.
15. Fourth, WSQ charts the progression pathways in various industries, from basic certificate all the way to graduate diploma. So within the system, for the talented and the determined, you can work yourself up, from an IT technician to a project manager, from an apprentice cook to a master chef, or from a shop assistant to a manager of a departmental store. And for those with established competencies, such as in finance, banking or the human resource industry, WSQ provides the bases to accredit you with formal professional certification, so that your skills and knowledge are properly recognised.
Best-of-Class Institutions through the WSQ
16. WDA has been working on the WSQ system for the past one and a half years. It will take several more years to develop. We need to build it up and manage it progressively, sector by sector. For each sector, WDA will engage the industry, understand the range of occupations, the levels of responsibilities, the skills required, and develop the career paths suitable for each industry. At every point of our journey, we make sure the industry is involved.
17. We have completed the framework for the retail, training and financial sector. Last month, the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) launched the nation al certification framework for the financial services sector.
18. But ultimately, qualifications are only as good as the training given by training institutions. For example, working adults from all over the world flock to Lausanne, Switzerland, to learn about hotel management. They are willing to put aside time and invest in their adult education because they know the qualifications and skills they obtain at the institution are internationally recognised and a valuable passport to better opportunities anywhere. Through the WSQ,
Singapore should also aim to establish one or two established institutions in sectors such as retail, tourism, food and beverage, infocomm or finance. These institutions will provide skills training that can lead to qualifications at all levels , and across all occupations in the sector. For specialised trades, such as culinary skills, the institution will link the trainees up with the masters for apprenticeships and practical learning. Companies will look towards these institutions as the key source for skilled workers, and participate in on-campus recruitment. As a result, the overall standard of training providers will be raised.
$100 million over 3 years to build training institutions
19. To accelerate this process, WDA will commit $100 million over the next three years to build best of class providers under our WSQ system.
20. As a start, WDA will collaborate with Nanyang Polytechnic to establish a Singapore Institute of Retail Studies (SIRS) by the first quarter of next year. Our post secondary educational institutions, especially the polytechnics, are natural partners to implement WSQ. We can ride on their strengths, to further develop the culture of lifelong learning in Singapore.
21. SIRS will be the one-stop centre where adult workers can become qualified in the retail sector, and get further training to progress in their careers. SIRS will leverage on the WSQ to promote and scale up skills upgrading for the retail sector. It will reach out to, train and place Singaporeans into jobs in the retail sector as well as upgrade the skills of current retail workers. In its first year of operation, in 2006, we expect SIRS to train about 1,000 new retail workers, and upgrade 5,000 existing retail workers. SIRS plans to conduct retail-related research and champion new training delivery pedagogy to better serve the needs of adult workers and SMEs. For the determined and outstanding workers, they could even obtain degrees in retail, which Nanyang Polytechnic is tying with overseas universities to offer.
22. Moving forward, SIRS will need to reach out to the industries, to establish itself as the flagship retail training provider in Singapore. That is why we are promoting retail training in partnerships with the Retail Academy of Singapore (TRAS) and the Singapore Retailers Association. We are able to make rapid progress in the retail sector, because of the support and guidance of the industry. They have also provided valuable inputs to help WDA develop the WSQ framework for retail, which form the basis for the training programmes at SIRS. I therefore want to specially mention the contribution of the Retail Industry Skills and Training Council, chaired by Dato Dr Jannie Tay, which has spearheaded the industry engagement effort since its inception.
Focusing our Efforts
23. WSQ will be the central tool, for us to step up our investment in manpower and skills development, and develop the infrastructure conducive for lifelong learning. Institutions, such as the SIRS, can be the key vehicles for us to drive desired outcomes, such as to help workers find jobs, bridge structural skills gaps, and raise the standard of industries.
24. In the coming years, we expect our investment in lifelong learning to go up. Given our limited resources, it is important that we make sure that we prioritise our spending and investment, to maximise the desired outcomes. In line with this objective, WDA will review its current funding schemes, evaluate their cost effectiveness, with a view to focus our resources where they matter most. It will work with NTUC and SPRING, and tap on the advice and views of private sector representatives in various Advisory Councils.
Conclusion
25. At the National Rally Speech this year, the Prime Minister described his vision for Singapore, where there is a mountain range of successes in our society. This is what we hope to contribute towards with the WSQ system. We are opening up new pathways, new opportunities and multiple chances for workers to scale the mountain range. With proper qualifications, and good training institutions backing them, we want to instill a greater sense of pride, professionalism and a sense of progression across many occupations.
26. Today, I am happy to have with us the pioneer batch of WSQ graduates from our retail industry, training industry and employability skills programmes. The retail trainees, who are contributing to higher professionalism in our retail sector, are from NTUC Fairprice. They will receive a Certificate in Retail operations. The trainers who are graduating with a WSQ Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment are the first of our frontline professionals set to raise the quality of training in Singapore. Today, we are also awarding the WSQ Career Readiness Certificate for employability skills training to seven graduates, who were sponsored by Yayasan MENDAKI. Two were unemployed before they began their training, but today both have good jobs. The training helped them, but more importantly, they were prepared and willing to learn and make adjustments.
27. To all our graduates, congratulations for receiving your qualifications today. The prospects and opportunities in Singapore are bright and aplenty. With your new qualifications, and with the right attitude, I am sure you can pursue meaningful careers, with pride and professionalism. I wish all of you a bright career ahead. Thank you.
