MY CAPABILITY, MY ADVANTAGE
Encouraging every staff to develop and own his or her competencies in current and new areas before integrating them across disciplines for a total system capability underlies ITE’s Total System Capability initiative. This initiative sought to put in place a holistic, integrated and sustainable programme to promote a continual process of developing the capabilities of ITE staff. The initiative was formulated to enhance staff capability for global challenges as part of the ITE Advantage plan.
- Niche Competency: Hospitality is among the niche courses that will be offered by ITE College West, which is being developed into an ITE College of Excellence for Service Quality.
STAFF TRAINING
As a People Developer organisation, ITE promotes staff training and sets a learning indicator target of 86 per cent of staff attaining 100 learning hours a year. In FY 2006, 87 per cent of staff attained 100 learning hours, a slight improvement over the 86 per cent in FY 2005. ITE kept its total investment in staff training, including overheads, at 4 per cent of payroll, for the year in review.
ITE’s academic staff undergo Industry Attachment once every five years to stay relevant. In FY 2006, 134 staff were attached for at least a month, locally and overseas. Most significant was the attachment of ITE College East staff at the Nursing Simulation Training Centres across the USA, in November 2006. The attachment was made possible through the partnership between ITE College East and USA’s key developer of human patient simulator, METI, or the Medical Education Technology, Inc., forged in 2005.
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
During the year of review, ITE pioneered the development of Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) core capabilities for Organisational Excellence. Plans were underway to set up a Centre for VTE aimed at strengthening the ITE Training System and enhancing the professional standing of ITE’s practices in curriculum, assessment, pedagogy, educational technology and student management.
To meet the objective, initiatives to promote best VTE practices were introduced in FY 2006. These included the harnessing of expertise of the different ITE establishments for a total solution; implementation of practice-oriented research and development; provision of consultancy services related to VTE; and the establishment of professional linkages and collaborations with reputable organisations and centres of excellence overseas.
REMODELLING VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
The development of the second Regional College of the One ITE System, Three Colleges Model progressed as scheduled in FY 2006. The second Regional College at Choa Chu Kang, ITE College West, was envisioned as an ITE College of Excellence for Service Quality. To be built as another comprehensive ITE College, it would run niche courses in Hospitality, Tourism, Retail and Automotive Technology. As at 31 March 2007, ITE College West was on track for completion by 2009. Tender bids for its development were received in February 2007, with evaluation underway to appoint a Public-Private Partnership provider.
On the other hand, the first Regional College, ITE College East, operational since 2005, has taken on Life Sciences, Logistics Management and Nursing as its niche competencies. A third installment of One ITE System, Three Colleges, ITE College Central, is being earmarked as the “VTE of the future”. Envisioned as a technology-rich infrastructure, ITE College Central will focus on Aerospace Technology, Creative Media and Wafer Fabrication. Sited at Ang Mo Kio, ITE College Central will be ready in 2011. The three ITE Colleges signify a remodelled VTE slanted towards a more broad-based training so as to produce graduates immediately deployable to the workforce.
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- Stay Updated: Industrial Automation Technology is one of the advanced fields of technology ITE staff is focusing on for capability enhancement.
CENTRES OF TECHNOLOGY
The three ITE Colleges had set up eight Centres of Technology (CoTS) since 2005 to provide a win-win platform for the Colleges to work with industry partners and facilitate the transfer of technology to staff. The CoTS established were in the advanced fields of Industrial Automation Technology, Business and Engineering IT, Engineering Education Technology, Automation and Robotics, Metrology and Healthcare. With access to advanced technologies, ITE staff empowered themselves with up-to-date know-how. ITE Colleges introduced the CoT concept, as one of the key programmes of ITE Advantage, to encourage staff to rise up to global challenges via capability enhancement.
