Mr Ngien Hoon Ping, Chief Executive, Land Transport Authority
Mr. Frank Körner, Head, Division of Vocational Schools, Centre for School
Quality and Teacher Education, Baden-Württemberg
Our German partners and friends, Mr Matthias Kurrle, Dr Falk Hartmann,
Mr Matthias Körber and Mr Christian Kutscher
Mr Allen Zheng Bing Ping, General Manager, BYD (Singapore) Pte Ltd
Mr. Marcio S. Coelho, Director of Sales and Marketing, Services for
Automotive Aftermarket, Asia Pacific Southeast, Robert Bosch (South
East Asia) Pte. Ltd
Mr Marco Neubold, Vice President, Domain Service, ZF Asia Pacific Pte
Ltd
Our Industry Partners
Students from Carl Benz Schule Gaggenau
Graduates and Students of the TED programme
ITE Colleagues and Students
Ladies and Gentlemen
Introduction
1 It is my pleasure to welcome you to ITE’s Land Transport Engineering
Conference, as well as the 10th Anniversary celebration of our
Technical Engineer Diploma in Automotive Engineering. Our special
appreciation to Mr Ngien Hoon Ping, CE/LTA and former ITE BOG
2
member for gracing today’s event and presenting the keynote
address.
2 The Technical Engineer Diploma in Automotive Engineering
programme was launched in 2010 through a long-standing strategic
partnership between ITE and the Ministry of Education, Youth and
Sports, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Together with our
educational institution partner, Carl Benz Schule Gaggenau, this
diploma programme serves to develop expertise for Singapore’s land
transport industry. This year marks the 10th anniversary and I wish to
thank all our German partners and friends who have come all the way
to Singapore to celebrate our one-decade of collaboration and
achievements.
Industry Partners
3 Land transport all over the world is undergoing massive change and
transformation. I leave the transformation and future envisioning
details to Hoon Ping to elaborate. It suffices for me to say that at ITE
we are mindful that our training equipment and curriculum must keep
pace with industry trends and emerging job demands. In the
automotive industry, we see the push towards diverse mobility,
autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity. In the rapid
transit industry, we see the use of smart technologies, condition
monitoring solutions and data analytics to perform predictive
maintenance.
4 Our industry partners play a critical role in helping ITE respond to the
new skillsets demand of the industry. Such partnerships and
collaborations are win-win for the industry and ITE. Later this
morning, we will be expressing our appreciation to all our industry
partners who have supported ITE in the PET training of our students
and CET training of in-service employees.
New MOUs
5 I am happy to share that this morning, we are signing three new MOU
with: BYD (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Robert Bosch South East Asia, and
ZF Asia Pacific. The three newly inked MOUs will create new CET
opportunities for in-service workers, boost ITE staff capability and
help refresh our PET course content.
- BYD Singapore will train our staff and boost their capability in
electric buses and cars.
- Bosch will enable ITE to launch a series of short Certificate of
Competency courses in Hybrid Vehicles, Advanced Driverassistance Systems and Engine Management Systems.
- ZF Asia Pacific will partner ITE to launch short Certificate of
Competency courses leading to certifications in the servicing
and maintenance of High Voltage Vehicles.
6 The 3 new partners and all existing industry partners will also support
ITE to refresh the instructional content for the Nitec and Higher Nitec
automotive and rapid transit courses.
Graduates of TED (Automotive Engineering)
7 Since the launch of the Technical Engineer Diploma in Automotive
Engineering in 2010, we have 10 cohorts of graduates. 164 students
have successfully completed the diploma programme.
- One of them, William Cheong, who is from the first cohort, is
now an ITE Lecturer and a proud member of our Automotive
Engineering faculty.
- Zhuang Hongyao, also a graduate from the first cohort, is
Volvo East Asia’s Assistant Area Service Manager.
- Sofian, from the class of 2013, is now a Technical Trainer at
the Subaru Academy, run by Motor Image Enterprises. Sofian
and his team plan and conduct training not only for our local
market, but also for the Group’s companies in the region.
8 These examples exemplify how our Automotive graduates are well
sought after by the automotive industry.
Graduates of Rapid Transit Courses
9 Graduates from our Rapid Transit courses are also doing well.
- Muhammad Suhairy, from the Nitec in Rapid Transit
Technology class of 2013, is now a Permanent Way Technical
Officer at SMRT Corporation. He performs maintenance work
on the railway tracks and tunnels to ensure the safety, reliability
and availability of these assets.
- Syahril B Rais, who graduated in 2017 from the Higher Nitec
in Rapid Transit Engineering, is now a Technical Support
5
Technician at SBS Transit and is assigned to its North East
Line's Signalling Department. He is a member of the assurance
team that diagnoses and rectifies trainborne-signalling issues.
10 With more MRT lines slated to come into operation by 2030, our
graduates can certainly look forward to good career opportunities in
the Rapid Transit industry.
Urban Mobility Centre
11 My ITE staff and I are committed to making continuous improvement
to ensure our training equipment and programmes are industry relevant. Our lecturers deploy a wide variety of pedagogical practices
to engage the students and help them develop their potential.
Training are conducted in authentic industry-like settings to provide
students a more immersive learning experience. One such example
is the new Urban Mobility Centre which was set up in anticipation of
new training needs as a result of the growing number of hybrid cars
and increasing deployment of electric cars locally.
12 We have also enhanced the Industry Attachment Programme (or
internship programme) so that students can deepen their skillsets
and sink their roots early in the industry. To all the companies present
today, we thank you for offering internship opportunities for our
students.
13 In conclusion, I thank all of you for participating in today’s Land
Transport Engineering Conference. I hope you will find today’s
Conference a useful platform to network, exchange ideas and share
knowledge. I wish you all a meaningful and rewarding morning.
Thank you.