Selection Criteria for SkillsFuture Course Partners

1 Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling asked the Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) whether the Ministry uses governance standards as one of the selection criteria in appointing partners and course providers of SkillsFuture programmes.

The Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) (Mr Ong Ye Kung): Mdm Speaker, SkillsFuture is a national movement to foster a culture of skills mastery and lifelong learning.

But way before the launch of the SkillsFuture movement, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) had, over the years, been championing lifelong learning and accrediting training providers and training courses through its quality assurance system.

WDA's quality assurance system comprises Organisation Approval and Course Accreditation to ensure that the development and delivery of Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) courses and the assessment of trainees meet required standards. WDA conducts regular audits on accredited training providers to ensure that they continue to have robust systems in place to deliver quality training. WSQ frameworks are also validated and endorsed by industry representatives to help ensure continued relevance to industry needs.

Similarly, the MOE-funded Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), that is, ITEs, polytechnics and the autonomous universities, also have systems in place to monitor and maintain teaching standards and the quality of their programmes. They participate in external audits that ensure their processes and programmes are well-run. In addition, they are validated by external review panels that assess the institutions' systems and teaching approaches.

The training programmes accredited by WDA and delivered by our IHLs have been brought under the SkillsFuture Credit scheme, one of the many initiatives under the SkillsFuture movement. To provide more choices, we have also included other courses, such as those supported by public agencies and selected courses offered by the People's Association, under the SkillsFuture Credit scheme. We will continue to monitor the quality of our appointed partners and training programmes.

Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling (Fengshan): I thank the Acting Minister for his answer. I would like to follow up with two supplementary questions. I do support and agree that the SkillsFuture programme is a good one and it should be one that is about broad-based learning and lifelong learning. However, fairly often, I do hear from constituents that some of these WDA courses that are provided for them do not adequately enable them to look for jobs subsequently. One of the reasons they were told was that some of the courses they had taken were insufficient and they needed to go for additional accreditation.

The first question is: would the Ministry consider putting up some guidelines or criteria to say what are the relevant courses which are applicable for particular industries so that people would have better guidance on how to go for the relevant courses because there are a lot provided currently?

The second question is with regard to quality and assurance: could the Acting Minister elaborate on the frequency of the cross-accreditation and how do the auditors regularly benchmark these against what is being provided out there in the market?

Mr Ong Ye Kung: I thank the Member for her supplementary questions. About finding jobs for her constituents, it is an inter-play of many factors of which training is one; the person's attitude is one; how picky the employer is is also one. That is why, for many years now, with the CDCs and with NTUC under the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i), there have been many career coaches being trained and they have been in the job for many years. They coach jobseekers and advise them on what courses to take, which companies to go for. For companies that are more picky, over time, e2i and the CDCs would no longer consider them their clients. They work with employers who are more welcoming to different kinds of workers.

So, it is many factors at play, of which training continues to be but one. It is necessary but it is not sufficient. If you have constituents or residents who need help, do feel free to approach the CDCs or e2i, which MOE works closely with.

As for the second question on quality and assurance, the Member asked how frequent the accreditation of courses is. Those are one-time events. If a training provider has come up with a course which it thinks can help workers and students, it can come forth to WDA. WDA has quite a speedy and efficient course accreditation system. Within months, it can be accredited. With accreditation, the course can enjoy Government funding. After that, it will be a yearly or two-yearly audit process to make sure that the course continues to be relevant to the industry and continues to be able to help workers.

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (West Coast): I thank the Acting Minister for the reply. I just wanted to add some points. Firstly, to congratulate the SkillsFuture team for including programmes that are online, like Coursera and Udemy, which are very useful.

I would like to suggest to the Acting Minister to consider reviewing the list of courses and programmes in the SkillsFuture list of approved courses more regularly, for example, like quarterly, not just for employability courses but also courses to encourage continuing education, lifelong learning and second-skilling.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: I am quite new to this job and even I got to launch the SkillsFuture Credit Scheme, which goes to show the scheme is very new. The answer to the Member's question is, yes, we will review it, whether quarterly or not, let us look at it. I would really like to invite NTUC and Labour Members of Parliament, if there are courses out there that the unions give feedback that these are helpful, do let us know. The intention is to broaden as much as we can.