Speech - Address by Ms Low Khah Gek, CEO of ITE, at Launch of NVIDIA-ITE AI Workforce Readiness Programme on 19 January 2022, at ITE College Central

Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Education

Mr Dennis Ang, Mr Charlie Foo, Mr Keith Strier (online), Nvidia 

Mr Andrew Chong, Chairman ITE

ITE Staff and Students

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. AI is fast becoming a horizontal competency cutting across different industry sectors. Bearing this in mind, ITE has designed for AI competencies to be embedded into the curriculum. 

   1. Baseline AI Competencies for All: All Year 1 students (14,000) complete a Baseline AI Competencies e-learning course and must pass a quiz assessment to confirm their mastery. We have started doing this since 2020.  

   2. AI Use Cases in Different Trade Courses for All: We consciously include relevant AI applications and use cases in the different courses e.g. use of IoT, sensors, data analytics for predictive maintenance in facility management course, use of chatbot for customer service.

   3. AI Specialisation: A number of ITE students have the aptitude for coding, programming, machine learning. They can enroll in AI courses to develop deep specialised AI competencies and subsequently join the AI industry to develop AI applications and solutions for various industry sectors.

2. Given these goals, ITE is very excited to have the support and partnership of Nvidia as they will give new impetus to the AI learning programmes and create new possibilities for AI projects that our students can undertake.

3. Currently, more than 4,500 companies offer internship places and another 450 companies take on work-study diploma trainees.  A number of these companies are in the midst of transforming their work processes and ready to explore the adoption of AI-enabled solutions. Together,  ITE and Nvidia can support them to ‘make it happen’. We will leverage Nividia’s wide network of local AI startups and AI specialists to develop customised AI solutions. Meanwhile ITE students can be  involved in the development process and apply their AI skills in this real-world context. Beyond just delivering the AI-enabled solution, we will also work with the company to train their staff to embrace the new AI-enabled application and work processes. 

4. ITE looks forward to partnering Nividia and in the coming months and years, work with Nvidia to provide AI solutions and build AI capabilities for the many local SMEs and companies in

Singapore. Our partnership will also nurture AI talents among ITE students and enable ITE students across different industry sectors to be ready to embrace AI. 

Thank you.