UniSIM will not pick Earn and Learn apprentices on grades alone
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — SIM University (UniSIM) will be the first to offer credit exemption to apprentices from the SkillsFuture Earn and Learn programme for its degree programmes. On top of that, it will consider applicants for admission based on testimonials and essays instead of looking solely at their academic records.
Announced in this year’s Budget, the Earn and Learn programme lets fresh polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education graduates go on paid apprenticeships and gain industry-recognised qualifications. Starting this month, it will be rolled out in eight sectors: Food manufacturing, food services, games development, logistics, infocomm technology, marine and offshore engineering, retail, and precision engineering.
Explaining how the university would offer credit exemptions, UniSIM president Cheong Hee Kiat said it would consider the courses taken by the apprentice before allowing him or her to be exempt from some modules at the university.
“For those who got the experience at work … we will work with employers and polytechnics to see that there is sufficient overlap for us to recognise credits,” he added, stressing that it is important for companies to set a clear objective for the individual so that he attains a certain level of expertise eventually.
With regard to the admissions, the university will consider employers’ testimonials and applicants’ essays on what they have learnt during the apprenticeship, among other things. Prof Cheong said: “When you have to put down on paper what you have learnt, that is pushing the person to think.”
Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who announced UniSIM’s plans at the university’s 10th anniversary celebration today (April 10), lauded it for “pioneering the integration of learning with the real world”.
“The individuals who embark on the Earn and Learn programme will be able to go on, use the knowledge they acquire under the ... programme and take that into UniSIM to obtain a degree qualification. So it combines on-the-job learning with institutional learning and leads up to a UniSIM qualification,” said Mr Tharman, who is chairman of the SkillsFuture Council.
The advancement pathway could start with UniSIM’s logistics undergraduate programme, followed by accountancy and social work. UniSIM also intends to join the likes of companies such as edX and Coursera, which hosts Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and start its own platform for online learning.
Top American universities such as Harvard and Stanford as well as local universities such as the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University have been part of the MOOC movement.
Prof Cheong said the university plans to offer about 20 to 30 work-related courses from next year, including those considered general-interest, such as music. Details are being finalised, but he said these courses would comprise both free and paid classes. The plan is to allow some of these courses to lead up to a qualification, he said.
In response to media queries, a Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) spokesperson said the university was working on advancement pathways for some of its SIT-conferred degree programmes and would announce the details in due time.
