(Caption:Opening of e2i at Redhill by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2008)
By Ramesh Subbaraman
Happy 10th Birthday NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute)!
Set up in 2008 by former NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say, e2i has served as a central resource for workers to obtain training and job placements.
Over the last 10 years, nearly 675,000 workers have passed through its doors from its days at Redhill in the Bukit Merah area till today at the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability in Jurong East.
Here’s a look back at some of the key milestones in e2i’s development in Singapore. The following information has been contributed by e2i.
e2i Over The Decade
2008: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong officially launched e2i on 1 February 2008 at the Redhill campus as a one-stop centre for training, job search and career guidance (pictured above).
2009: To help companies and workers manage the economic downturn and invest in skills upgrading for the recovery, SPUR@e2i (Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience) was launched to “Cut Costs, Save Jobs”.
2010: The Inclusive Growth Programme (IGP), a $100 million programme to impact 100,000 workers, was launched to raise the productivity of companies and share the gains with low wage workers.
2011: The ground-breaking ceremony of Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability in Jurong East was held.
2012: e2i started training programmes in cleaning, landscape and security to support Singaporeans with better skills and higher productivity to progress in career and wages through the Progressive Wage Model.
2013: e2i organised the first Employability Fair featuring over 300 employers across 26 events. It brought together workers, training providers and employers to exchange skills and productivity solutions.
2014: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong opened the Devan Nair Institute for Employment and Employability on 1 May 2014. The campus was dedicated to the late Mr Devan Nair for his contributions to the Labour Movement and Singapore. In 1961, Mr Nair helped to start the National Trades Union Congress and was elected the first Secretary-General of the NTUC.
2015: e2i rolled out the MasterClass Series to help the workforce, especially professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET), to develop and deepen their skills sets and to achieve mastery of skills.
2016: e2i forged stronger partnerships with institutes of higher learning through collaborations in Education and Career Guidance. e2i further expanded the touchpoints of its career centres to include the Central and Southwest Districts and the Social Service Offices.
2017: With the launch of the SkillsFuture movement, e2i continues to work on equipping the workforce with the necessary tools and skill sets. This is to allow them to take ownership of their skills upgrading journey so as to stay relevant and be future-ready.
The U Career Network was launched, comprising employability coaches, ambassadors and industry mentors, to forge a lifelong relationship with all workers throughout their career journey.
Another launch – NTUC’s U Leap app, a mobile learning platform where workers can acquire new knowledge quickly through short multimedia content and bite-sized modules.
2018: For this year, e2i’s focus is on translating the 23 Industry Transformation Maps (ITM). e2i and the NTUC Training Council will help operationalise the ITMs into tangible benefits for workers to enable them to be future-ready.
