Speech By CEO/ITE For MOU Signing Between ITE, QuantEdge Foundation Singapore (QFS) and The Astronauts Collective (TAC),

Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, SMS Janil Puthucheary;

Mr Andrew Chong, Chairman of ITE Board of Governors;

Mr Xie Yao Quan, Chief Executive Officer of Quantedge Foundation (Singapore);

Mr Wong Yi Fong, Executive Director, The Astronauts Collective;

Mr Marvin Kang, Executive Director & Co-founder, The Astronauts Collective;

The Astronauts Collective Mentors;

ITE Colleagues and Students

1. Students joining ITE from secondary schools pursue the 3-year or 2-year Higher Nitec training. ITE strives to equip them with technical skills, soft skills and a strong foundation to pursue further education and employment.

2. Transiting from school to the workplace to pursue a career can be daunting for our 18- or 19-year-old students.

(a) It is different from the casual part-time work that some of them are already engaged in because they now need to think carefully which would be the specific industry sectors and job roles that they are building their long-term careers in.

(b) The workplace demands go beyond technical knowledge and skills as employers value responsibility, punctuality, initiation and commitment.

(c) Career progression or promotion to a higher-level job is achieved not just by qualifications alone, but also through good work performance as well as communications and creating value for the company.

3. At ITE, we cannot assume that just because we have designed our Higher Nitec course such that students will experience two internship stints and the lecturers constantly remind the students about the desired workplace behaviour and competencies, they would be work-ready and career-ready. Hence, we are deeply appreciative that a large group of voluntary mentors who have rich work and life experience, are offering their time, expertise and ‘heart’ to walk alongside our students, guiding, supporting and mentoring them.

4. We are grateful to Quantedge and The Astronauts Collective for making available this unique mentorship programme called the JumpStart. It provides structured support for mentoring, helping our students explore career options early. They help as guiding hands as they transit into the workplace and into Work-Study Diploma (WSDip), as well as providing additional mentorship to build workplace readiness that will boost their work performances and contributions while they are in the companies during their WSDip

5. Muhd Zulfaqar is a JumpStart mentee. Zul graduated from Higher Nitec in Facility Management in March this year and was offered a Property Officer job as well as Work-Study Diploma place by his internship employer. Obviously, the employer was impressed by his attitude and performance. The employer is C&W Services. His JumpStart mentor is Ms Goh Ying Xuan. She is a university undergraduate, pursuing a degree in project and facilities management infrastructure. You will notice that mentor and mentee share a common field of study and they are both pursuing careers in the same industry. This allows for good conversations during their monthly meetups. Zul shared that having a mentor who is not his direct supervisor/reporting officer meant that he could get advice without worrying about being judged. His mentor, Ying Xuan, has guided him to think about his longer-term goals, helping him stay focused, motivated and ambitious.

6. Each year, ITE students and fresh graduates like Zul will benefit from JumpStart mentoring. While we start with 250 JumpStart mentees this year, we will expand the number each year. This mentorship would certainly boost ITE’s ability to achieve our WSDip intake target of 2,000 by 2030, which is a significant increase of 400 compared to this year’s intake of 1,600.

7. Our deep appreciation to Quantedge Foundation and The Astronauts Collective for partnering ITE to uplift and impact our students. Special thanks to SMS Janil for gracing this event. Thank you.