Strengthening Engineering Talent Pipelines through Aligning with Emerging Industries and Public Sector Hiring

56 Mr Jackson Lam asked the Minister for Education (a) whether the Ministry has studied why students are turning away from traditional engineering disciplines despite national infrastructure needs; (b) how curricula and pay expectations can be better aligned with emerging industries; and (c) whether public sector hiring and scholarships will be recalibrated to strengthen local engineering talent pipelines.

Mr Desmond Lee: The Ministry of Education (MOE) works closely with economic agencies to ensure that the supply of places in the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), including in engineering, is aligned with industry demand for manpower. Over the past five years, close to three in 10 graduates from IHLs were from engineering courses.

IHLs regularly review and update their course curriculum and offerings, including in emerging fields, like applied and inter-disciplinary engineering. For example, the Singapore University of Technology and Design offers programmes in Engineering Product Development and Engineering Systems and Design. Nanyang Polytechnic's Diploma in Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Data Engineering also incorporates applied engineering with AI, data analytics and Internet of Things applications into its curriculum.

However, students do not just choose a course of study. Their choices are also influenced by the future careers associated with the course of study. Specific to the Built Environment sector, there has been declining interest in Architecture and Civil Engineering programmes in the past few years. The Taskforce of Architectural and Engineering Consultants co-chaired by Ms Indranee Rajah, Second Minister for National Development and Mr Chaly Mah, Chairman of Surbana Jurong Group, identified the following challenges: persistent talent shortage, challenging work experiences, insufficient investments in workforce capabilities and firms' difficulties in offering competitive salaries due to unsustainable price competition in the industry. The Taskforce has recommended measures to improve attraction and retention of talent, including extending outreach efforts to improve the sector's image, enhancing internships, counting the internship duration towards professional registration requirements, offering higher starting salaries for interns who join the same company after graduation and improving human resource practices for better career development.

More generally, to help students make informed decisions about careers in engineering-related fields, IHLs organise career fairs, industry talks and networking events to raise students' awareness of engineering- and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related job opportunities and industries. Students can also access monthly salary ranges of specific jobs on the MySkillsFuture portal.

The Public Service has been actively recruiting science, technology and engineering (STE) officers across a broad range of technology domains to build an engineering talent pool that meets our needs in nation building. Between 2019 and 2024, the number of STE officers in the Public Service grew by 3.4%. The Public Service has also been developing a pipeline of engineering talent through the Public Service Commission Scholarship (Engineering), introduced in 2017, and various scholarships offered by public agencies. Over the past five years, the Public Service has collectively given out 50 to 60 undergraduate scholarships annually for students to pursue engineering disciplines. At the pre-university level, MOE gives out about 200 scholarships each year to pre-university students who have strong foundations in mathematics and science to bolster their interest in engineering and STEM courses and careers.