Nanyang Technological University (NTU) employees will now have more opportunities to upskill and equip themselves with digital skills and competencies to meet the demands of Industry 4.0.
The university signed an agreement with the Education Services Union (ESU) on 9 March 2021 to form a new company training committee (CTC). NTU and the union are also jointly investing $500,000 in a new training fund.
The CTC will see the university and union work together to identify new growth areas and map out new skills and competencies through targeted training programmes.
ESU General Secretary Arshad Ismail said: “We are happy to collaborate with NTU and support the university’s efforts in upskilling its employees to meet future challenges as the university and the education sector change with technology. Through this training initiative, employees will be able to take ownership of their learning and receive customised training tailored for their specific skills development needs.”
NTUC Deputy Secretary-General Koh Poh Koon, who witnessed the signing, said that there is a need for the education sector to digitalise as it faces disruption brought about by COVID-19.
“While this poses challenges, it also offers opportunities for the institutions and workers to transform themselves. With the CTC as an enabler, our union and management can work closely to assess skill gaps, identify training needs and carry out job redesign for our workers,” he added.
Meanwhile, the $500,000 will go towards the upgrading and upskilling of about 2,000 NTU’s union-member employees.
These employees can look forward to 17 curated courses co-developed by the university, union and training partners such as NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute).
According to NTUC and ESU, the courses will deepen employees’ competencies and ensure that they can embrace change, leverage new technology and adapt to new job roles as the education sector transforms in a post-COVID-19 world.
The courses will be rolled out progressively from March and will cover six aspects. These include digital awareness, critical thinking, effective communication, data management, project management and process improvement.
One employee who has led by example and signed up for a data analytics course under the new training fund is Lee Hon Wai, a higher ICT support engineer at the National Institute of Education, NTU.
“The course will be very useful as it will help me better manage data and more importantly, make meaningful analysis out of the data and apply it in my projects. This will allow me to take on higher-value job roles in the future.
“Given the growing need to digitalise and automate our work processes, it is vital that we keep ourselves abreast of the industry trends and changes. I look forward to taking part in more courses as they are being rolled out,” said Mr Lee.
As an ESU union leader, Mr Lee also encouraged other fellow employees to upgrade themselves so that they can embrace change and remain relevant.
