Advertisment

Singapore launches Rs 325-cr IT talent development plan

author-image
CIOL Bureau
Updated On
New Update

SINGAPORE: Singapore is not content with the current enviable state of its knowledge economy. Anticipating the booming growth in the infocomm economy, the government has announced a Rs 325 crore (S $ 120 million), five-year Infocomm manpower Development Roadmap to fuel the growth of this sector in the country and develop a globally-competitive, infocomm-savvy workforce.

Advertisment

Unveiling the ambitious plan as part of the Singapore Intelligent Nation ( iN 2015) initiative, Dr Balaji Sadasivan, Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications, Arts & Health, said it was important for the city-state to set the infocomm agenda in the next 10 years and also differentiate itself from India and China in this sector and compete successfully against these big nations.

The target: Develop an innovative and infocomm-savvy workforce to drive the creation and exploitation of infocomm technologies to maintain Singapore's leadership as the location of choice for infocomm business and innovation.

Dr Balaji said as part of the programme, 30 of the state's 222 schools will have Infocomm Clubs from January 2006 as part of the co-curricular activities (CCA) programme. Students who enroll for these programmes in schools and junior colleges could earn CCA points and also get credit exemption for those who move out to pursue IT diplomas.

Advertisment

The entire programmes are based on private-public partnerships with partners such as SingTel and Cisco Systems. For example, the infocomm club in one school will have 20 new Apple iMac computers loaded with the latest multimedia design and animation software from Apple and Macromedia.

IT professionals will train students to transform them into experts in 3-D animation, video editing, game development and web design.

Promoted jointly by the Ministry of Education and the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), over 150 schools are expected to be covered under this programme by 2008. The governments hopes at least half the members who join the infocomm clubs may join the Infocomm industry.

Advertisment

Singapore currently has over 100,000 infocomm professionals. The programme has been launched in the backdrop of students becoming attracted to other streams such as biosciences, which are also gaining immense popularity.

The government has also launched a National Infocomm Scholarship ( NIS) to encourage infocomm students to pursue studies abroad, gain work experience with top foreign companies who are supporting the programme.

All the goodies are not just for students. The current workforce in various industries too could join the 'Infocomm Skills@work' programme. This would help to develop infocomm competencies that will transform their business, and the way they work.

The current infocomm professionals could improve their skill sets through the Natioanl Infocomm Competency Framework, which will provide a step-by-step certification and competency development plan. The minister said the programme aims to equip local infocomm students with critical and essential skills demanded by the growing infocomm industry.

tech-news