OPENING STATEMENT BY MR BRUCE POH, DIRECTOR & CEO/ITE AT NEWS BRIEFING ON ITE’S NEW TECHNICAL ENGINEER DIPLOMA IN MACHINE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME ON MONDAY 23 JULY 2007 AT 3 PM, ITE HEADQUARTERS
(Embargoed till Tueday 24 July at 4 pm)
CEO/ITE’S OPENING STATEMENT
Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction1 Good afternoon. Let me extend a warm welcome to all of you to today’s News Briefing on ITE’s new Technical Engineer Diploma (TED in short) in Machine Technology Programme.
2 I will first provide you with a brief background on the development of this new Diploma programme, which will be offered by ITE in collaboration with an overseas institution in April 2008. Following this, Mr Heng Guan Teck, our Deputy CEO (Academic), will present details of the programme. Thereafter, we will take questions from the media. As this new progression pathway for ITE graduates will be announced by Minister for Education at our Graduation Ceremony on Tue 24 Jul, what we share today will be embargoed till after the Minister’s Speech tomorrow.
Background3 ITE has had a long-standing partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports, Baden-Württemberg (MEYS in short), Germany, since 1991, and we have renewed our MOU with the State three times since then.
4 In June last year, Minister of State for Education and Manpower, Mr Gan Kim Yong, led a delegation from MOE and ITE to Switzerland and Germany. The delegation was particularly impressed with the diversity of the German Education System, their strong focus on life-long learning and symbiotic partnership with industry, as well as the different pathways available for vocational students to pursue tertiary education.
5 Following that trip, ITE studied and explored the offer of niche Diploma programmes, which would provide opportunities for talented ITE graduates to develop and attain similar world-standing capabilities as their German counterparts. This is also in line with the Ministry of Education ’ s overall policy of creating more diversity and different pathways for progression within the education system to maximise different aptitudes and talents of students.
6 Based on the world-renowned strengths of the German Vocational Training System and technology and the growth trends in Singapore’s manufacturing sector, the Technical Engineer Diploma (TED) in Machine Technology programme was identified. Modeled after the State of Baden-Württemberg’s state-certified Technical Engineer Programme, the TED Programme is the first of such programmes offered outside Germany.
Purpose of the Course7 The TED programme will further develop graduates with Nitec in Precision Engineering or Higher Nitec in Mechanical Engineering in the area of machine/equipment design and building, including assembly, testing and commissioning. TED graduates have good prospects in the industrial automation and machine tool manufacturing industry under the high-growth machinery and systems cluster as identified by the Economic Development Board (EDB).
Prospects8 As you know, despite the strong growth of the services sector, manufacturing remains an important pillar of the Singapore economy. Manufacturing contributed 27% of our GDP in 2005 and 28% in 2006.
9 The growing sophistication of the manufacturing sector, in particular, in equipment manufacturing, requires the support of highly-skilled machine technologists. The proposed collaboration between ITE and MEYS to introduce the Diploma programme in Machine Technology in Singapore will not only fill a critical manpower need of the manufacturing sector, but will also be a first of such state-certified programmes offered outside Germany.
Conclusion10 Having provided the rationale for ITE to introduce the new Technical Engineer Diploma in Machine Technology programme, I will now hand you over to Mr Heng Guan Teck, who will provide you with further details on the programme. Thank you.