Eligibility Criteria for SGUnited Skills Programme and Extent of Ministry's Oversight over Private Training Providers
Ministry of EducationSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the eligibility criteria and oversight for the SGUnited Skills Programme as raised by Mr Christopher de Souza. Minister for Education Lawrence Wong stated that Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents are eligible, excluding fresh graduates who qualify for traineeships. Training providers are governed by SkillsFuture Singapore through contractual arrangements and are selected based on their track record and employment assistance capabilities. Minister for Education Lawrence Wong clarified that work attachments must be integrated into the training curriculum and are not merely about self-sourcing. The Ministry targets 20,000 funded places and is prepared to increase this capacity should additional demand for the programme arise.
Transcript
21 Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Education regarding the SGUnited Skills Programme (a) what are the eligibility criteria for the programme, (b) what is the extent of the Ministry's oversight over the private training providers; and (c) whether the Ministry will consider expanding the number of funded places should the applicants be able to find self-sourced work attachments.
Mr Lawrence Wong: The SGUnited Skills programme comprises full-time training courses ranging from six to 12 months. Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents are eligible for the programme, with the exception of fresh graduates, for whom the SGUnited Traineeships have been introduced.
Training providers appointed to deliver SGUnited Skills courses are governed through contractual arrangements with SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) and are held to specified performance standards. They are selected based on their track record with SSG in delivering sector-specific training, and their capabilities in career advisory and employment assistance.
The Member asked if training places can be expanded if trainees were to self-source their own work attachments. But the issue is not just about finding work attachments. Training providers also need to ensure that the work attachments or industry projects are carefully curated and designed to be integrated with the training programme.
Under the SGUnited Skills Programme, our target is to provide 20,000 funded training places across a wide variety of courses. So far, we have rolled out 13,000 places and are on track to meet the target by December 2020. We are prepared to increase the funded training places, should there be additional demand.