Together on a Journey of Excellence

With globalisation and rapid technological advancement, the competitive advantage of economies leverages on the quality of a country's human resource. ITE, as the principal provider of Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) in Singapore, plays a vital role in training high-quality skilled manpower, to support Singapore's economic growth, and to provide educational and career opportunities for 25 per cent of each education cohort, through a "hands-on, minds-on and hearts-on" education.

In these, ITE has done well in FY 2007.

A Global Recognition for ITE

In September 2007, ITE was announced the winner of the global IBM Innovations in Transforming Government Award. Conferred by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government and supported by IBM, the Award recognised ITE's transformation of VTE in Singapore as "the world's most transformative government programme", which has "profound impact on citizens' lives" and a "model programme" with potential for global replication.

Locally, ITE's contributions to the community and concerted efforts in raising the public profile of technical education did not go unrecognised. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew called ITE "one of Singapore's success stories" when he visited ITE College East in February 2008, while then-Minister for Education, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in an interview with The Straits Times, dubbed ITE "the jewel in Singapore's education system".

ITE is honoured by these endorsements. They affirm the Singapore government's support for VTE, as well as the work of successive Boards of Governors, Management and Staff.

Sharing ITE's Expertise with the International Community

ITE's strengths in VTE were also recognised by the international community in VTE when ITE was requested to share its expertise through a World Bank Workshop on "Leaders in Education and Training for Sustained Growth in Africa" for 40 government and senior officials from Ghana, Madagascar and Mozambique. ITE was also named the Technical Consultant for two international Government-to-Government projects - the setting up of the Regional Vocational Training Centre at Marka, Jordan, and a special vocational training arm within Batam Polytechnic, Indonesia.