Speech by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister for Education, at Republic Polytechnic's First Graduation Ceremony, on Tuesday, 30 May 2006 at 9.30 am at NUS University Cultural Centre

SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION, AT REPUBLIC POLYTECHNIC’S FIRST GRADUATION CEREMONY, ON TUESDAY, 30 MAY 2006 AT 9.30 AM AT NUS UNIVERSITY CULTURAL CENTRE

Mr Peter Tan
Member, Board of Governors

Professor Low Teck Seng
Principal and CEO, Republic Polytechnic

Distinguished guests

Parents and Graduands

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. I am happy to join you at the first Graduation Ceremony of Republic Polytechnic (RP). I share the joy of all graduands and their parents who are here this morning. Congratulations and well done!

2. You are graduating at a time when there are many more opportunities for young people, compared to a few years ago. The economy is growing well. The job market is tight for those with skills. There are pockets of unemployment that we need to tackle, such as for older workers, but overall the job market is tight. In fact, compared to any other Asian country, there are more jobs available for each new graduating student in Singapore.

A First Class Polytechnic Education

3. You have also benefited from an excellent polytechnic education. I say this not just because I am the Education Minister. Our polytechnic education is highly regarded in the market. That’s what industrialists and enterprises tell us. Polytechnic education in Singapore is held in high regard by international educators and experts as well. It is seen as providing a first-rate, practice-based education that equips young Singaporeans with the knowledge and skills required to excel in an innovation-based economy.

4. We need Singaporeans who go through a practice-based, applied approach to learning as much as we need those who go through junior colleges and universities. And we need to keep looking for ways to improve both these paths in higher education.

5. The five polytechnics are doing that - they want to keep improving, keep breaking new ground in encouraging independent learning, and keep exposing their students to the latest technologies and practices in industry. In other words, the polytechnics are innovating, in order to produce innovative students.

Doing Things Differently

6. RP is a very good example of this, and in its own unique way. Last November, I met many staff and students at the opening of the Republic Polytechnic Centre. I found the interactions insightful. I was particularly intrigued by the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach that RP had adopted across its entire curriculum. PBL is one of the most prominent ways in why RP has been “Doing things differently”, if I can use your own tagline. I understand RP is unique in adopting PBL right across its curriculum. RP also uses a “One Day, One Problem” approach that is again unique. It allows students time to think in a sustained manner about the learning issues they have been presented with. RP’s class size of no more than 25 students, who are divided into five teams, supports this approach and helps students learn to work effectively in teams.

7. Why does this matter? RP has not used these methods for the sake of novelty. It has instead sought to bring the realities of the workplace into the polytechnic. The realities of having to anticipate challenges, deal with problems as they crop up, and respond quickly to unexpected developments. Or the realities of dealing with the fuzziness and ambiguity that we find in any knowledge-based industry, where there are no ready answers to problems and few rules to follow. And the realities of having to work as a team, work with people with different strengths and personalities, and gain a competitive edge by working great as a team.

8. I know there are many other examples of how RP has been doing things differently. Take for instance RP’s idea to install a campus-wide wireless network that connects all its lecture theatres, classrooms and labs, and provides students and staff with always-on Internet access. The system, a first for a school in Singapore, enables students to chat with lecturers, get their assignments checked by their lecturers, surf the Web, and connect to lab equipment from their laptops anywhere on the 20-hectare Woodlands campus.

9. RP’s innovative approach to education is nurturing innovative minds. Earlier this year, I read in the Straits Times about Sam Wai Git, a third year RP student who had teamed up with a Secondary 4 student from Junyuan Secondary School to start a nationwide online study resource website that allows users to post, share and edit uploaded subject notes[1].

10. I am told that two RP teams won the first and third placing at the finals of the Tiger Balm International Case Challenge 2005, an international competition where tertiary students present innovative and viable business ideas and demonstrate their strategic thinking abilities. The teams from RP beat 80 tertiary institutions around the world, including Canada, India, Hong Kong and Singapore. It was another sign that RP’s “Doing things differently” had infected its students with an enthusiasm for innovation.

11. It is to the credit of your principal, Professor Low Teck Seng, the management and the staff, and you yourselves as students, that RP dared to be different. It took a calculated risk, by doing something that had not been tried before. But it was a clever way to position RP, our newest polytechnic, not just as a fifth polytechnic but an institution that will produce something different from the regular. And I’m glad that what RP dared to do is paying off. I am told that RP has been receiving positive feedback from students, parents, secondary schools and industry.

12. Parents especially have been receptive and supportive of RP’s PBL approach. They also appreciate how RP has made its students feel that it is a ‘second home’ for them. RP has also been reaching out to secondary schools to share best practices.

13. The graduates seated here today are perhaps the most persuasive testimony to RP’s success. People like Benjamin Goh who received the Tay Eng Soon Gold Medal (given annually to former ITE grads who have topped their respective polytechnics) and is graduating with a Diploma with Distinction in Electronics Engineering (Wireless Communication). Not only did Benjamin achieve academic success, he also served as Honorary General Secretary and as Vice President of the Cyriva Club at the School of Engineering. To Benjamin, the key to success was motivation. He says he found himself motivated by RP’s teaching staff and the nurturing environment of the polytechnic.

Carve Out Opportunities for Yourself

14. Some of you will be entering the workforce now, and others will do so in a few years, after you graduate from university. Either way, each of you will find that you have received an education that equips you with the skills and knowledge to succeed. But it does not assure you of success.

15. To succeed, you have to take initiative, and be willing to be different. Go with your instincts, not just follow the tide. Carve out opportunities for yourself, not wait for them to be placed in front of you.

16. But above all, do not forget your roots. As the Chinese idiom says “yin (2) shui (3) si (1) yuan (3)” (’饮水思源). Remember how RP has nurtured you. And when you are able to do so, contribute to your alma mater so that your juniors will succeed like you.

17. My congratulations once again to all of you on your achievements. I wish you all an exciting journey as you set sail into new waters.

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[1] “They offer free study notes online” (ST, 18/4, pH7)