On May 19 (Sat), the Centre for Continuing & Professional Education (CCPE) and the Office of Student & Alumni Relations conducted the SkillsFuture Seminar, which was attended by over 60 alumni and their guests to gain insights into navigating and staying current in a digital economy through equipping themselves with critical skills.
Held at the SUSS campus, SUSS President, Professor Cheong Hee Kiat kicked off the seminar by welcoming the alumni and updating the audience on the courses that the University currently offers for alumni to gear up and improve their skill sets for changes that lie ahead in Singapore, especially where jobs may be lost to automation and technological advancements. He also announced the launch of the Lifelong Learning Credit (L2C) Scheme, where all SUSS alumni will be given $500 worth of credits to take CET courses within 4 semesters.
Professor Cheong Hee Kiat, President, SUSS, addressing the audience at the SkillsFuture Seminar on May 19.
A panel of SUSS faculty members and staff from the SUSS School of Business (SBIZ), School of Science and Technology (SST), Centre of Applied Research (CFAR) and CCPE shared with the audience the various topics related to technologies that play a part in revolutionising the economy. Topics covered included Changing Skills and Jobs, Cybersecurity, Digital Content Marketing, Data Analytics, Industry 4.0 and Professional Conversion Programme.
Associate Professor Randolph Tan, Director, Centre of Applied Research (CFAR), shared findings from his team's research work, "Study on Changing Skills and Jobs" where they discovered three factors that affect the ability of Singapore's labour market to adapt to changes in technology.
Dr Ng Hsiao Piau, an associate faculty from SUSS School of Business (SBIZ), introduced Industrie 4.0 and shared examples of companies using smart technologies such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, and networked machines and processes.
During the seminar, existing programmes in SUSS which focuses on preempting changes in the digital era were also shared. One of such programmes is the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) offered by CCPE. It provides the necessary skills and conversion training for mid-career switches to embrace their new job roles and matches these individuals to companies they are currently partnering with.
An alumnus, Mr Joo Jian Jia, who travelled all the way from Johor Bahru to attend the seminar shared his reasons for attending: "I wanted to know more about Industry 4.0. It is very useful as it improves my career skills for the digital era."
Time for some Q&A!
SUSS alumni get to enjoy a 20% discount when they enrol in modular courses from the Continuing Education and Training (CET) programme. Under the SUSS Alumni Continuing Education Plus (ACE+) Scheme, alumni can enrol in two modules of their choice for free, if they enrol within two years of the date of their graduation (terms and conditions apply, please refer to ACE+ Scheme page for more information and eligibility).