By Shukry Rashid
Not many people may know this, but the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) has been around for more than 60 years.
It started out as the Supervisory and Management Training Association of Singapore (SAMTAS) back in April 1956 when industrialisation was an expanding sector and it was established to address industrial relations concerns of the Singapore workforce.
The institution provided training to supervisors and managers in subjects ranging from job relations to industrial safety.
MDIS has since evolved to cater to market demands as the economy changed over the years. For example, the MDIS School of Tourism and Hospitality was formed in March 2007 as Singapore geared up for the hospitality industry.
Later that year, former NTUC Secretary-General and now Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say officiated the launch of a specialised hospitality training centre by MDIS called Tropical Breeze.
MDIS’ current range of courses includes information technology, fashion design, engineering and life sciences.
Relevance of Skills
To ensure that the skills taught to the students always remain relevant, MDIS has had a dedicated Product and Development Management team since 1959.
The team is currently made up of seven full-time staff and works closely with the Ministry of Manpower, the Labour Movement and industry partners to ensure the training and courses MDIS provides are relevant to market demands.
MDIS Secretary-General R Theyvendran explained: “MDIS grew with the nation and made a difference. How we identified the relevant skills is by talking to the unions and by seeing the market trends. The unions play an important part.”
For Workers Too
With some 10,000 students currently enrolled in the school, 70 per cent of its local cohort is made up of part-time students who also work full-time. These students take up courses that range from one-day programmes to diplomas and degrees.
Its corporate training arm, Management Development and Consultancy, has over 200 courses which are subsidised by the SkillsFuture Credit.
Education Services Union (ESU) Executive Council Member and MDIS Branch Chairman M Kunaseakanan said the union is currently working with the management to allow these courses to be subsidised by the Union Training and Assistance Programme (UTAP) fund as well.
He explained: “The management has been proactive. Even for our staff, we are encouraged to take up lifelong learning. For example, with the prominence of social media, we have staff who are in their 70s learning social media.”
MDIS also works closely with the Singapore Teachers’ Union (STU). A memorandum of understanding signed in 2002 between MDIS and STU, which is still in effect till today, enables the sharing of the industry’s best practices such as education development and motivation.
Besides the collaboration with STU, MDIS also has memoranda of understanding with the Union of Security Employees and the Union of Telecoms Employees’ of Singapore, where members of these three unions – and even their spouses and children – enjoy course rebates, bursaries and scholarships.
Source: NTUC This Week
