Speech by Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Minister of State For Education & Manpower, at the Engineering Fiesta Opening Ceremony, 24th November 2005, 9.10am at the National Library at Bras Basah

Speech by Mr. Gan Kim Yong, Minister of State For Education & Manpower, at the Engineering Fiesta Opening Ceremony, 24^th November 2005, 9.10am at the National Library at Bras Basah

Dr Foo Say Wei, President of IES

Distinguished Guests

Principals, Teachers, Students

Ladies and Gentlemen

1. Good morning, I am pleased to be here with you this morning at the launch of Engineers’ Week – Engineering Fiesta’, organised by the National Committee of the Engineering Organisation of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore.

Engineers Change The World

2. Technology is a key driver in the global economy today. Engineers have invented and constructed the globe-shrinking technologies that established and now maintain this global immediacy. Many of the technologies that shaped the 20th century such as electricity and electronics; ground, air, and space transport; radio and television broadcast; telephonics and satellite communications; medical equipment; laser and fibre optics, microprocessors and the Internet; were created and invented by engineers. What is most impressive is that, all of these were accomplished within a mere 100 years. These inventions have totally changed the world we live in and the way we live.

3. I visited the Panasonic Centre in Tokyo recently on an official trip. We were invited to view a private exhibit that was not open to the public. It was an exhibit of the latest technologies they were working on. I cannot disclose too much as it was confidential but it would suffice to say that it gave us a glimpse of what the world would be like in the not-too-distant future taking advantage of the emerging technologies.

4. Once upon a time, there were three people in a discussion. An engineer, an economist and a politician. They were debating about how to eliminate poverty in a certain country. The economist argued that, we should introduce market economy and that will help improve productivity and efficiency which will in turn generate wealth for the people. The politician argued that no, we must first inspire the people and motivate them to upgrade themselves. The engineer did not say a word but went on to invent the fishing rod, created the fishing industry and gave the people a means to survive. Don’t get me wrong, economists and politicians have important roles to play in nation building. But engineers have to deal with the more down to earth issues and very often, their contributions were less celebrated primarily because engineers tend to be less vocal.

5. In Singapore too, engineers have played a key role in our nation building and our industrialisation process. When we first gained our independence in 1965, we did not have much of an economy. The government decided that industrialisation was the way to create a living for our people. We brought in foreign investors, we built the industries and we create the economic miracle and pushed Singapore into the first world economy. How did we do that? We did not have the market, we did not have any natural resources. One key factor was that we have good people, highly skilled, well trained engineers that could support the needs of the fast growing industries. Without them, the investors would not have come to Singapore.

Importance of Engineering Education

6. Recognising the importance of developing our engineering manpower, we placed great emphasis on engineering education and the profession has always been able to attract some of our best and brightest. Many of our more capable students have chosen the Engineering discipline. Today, the Engineering discipline accounts for about 34% of the total university and polytechnic annual intake.

7. Moving ahead, as Singapore develops into a knowledge based and innovation-driven economy, manufacturing will remain a core pillar of our economy. We will have to continue to strengthen our engineering education. Our polytechnics and universities will have to continue to provide high quality engineering education. At the same time, they will need to step up their research and development work to keep them abreast of world developments and to gain international recognition.

8. Over that last 2 years, our polytechnics and universities have introduced many new Engineering programmes. These programmes are aimed at producing graduates with knowledge and skills that are relevant and valuable to the industry. This year, our polytechnics took in about 7,000 Engineering students, while our universities took in about 4,000 students.

9. While the size of the Engineering intake in the polytechnics and universities has remained healthy in the past few years, it is important that we continue to attract some of our best students to Engineering, especially in view of the wide array of courses available today. To sustain our economic success, we need more creative and talented people to take up Engineering. Only then can we maintain our economic competitiveness and transform Singapore into a vibrant global city.

Pursuing Engineering Education and Career

10. Our engineering graduates are highly demanded by the industry as evidenced by the relatively high employment rates of about 77%[1] in our polytechnics and 75%[2] in our universities. An Engineering education offers a rigorous, broad-based academic foundation that can open doors to a wide variety of career choices. Engineering graduates are in demand in almost every sector of the economy. Engineers are generally very versatile. They are trained in managing complex issues, solving complicated problems and dealing with multi-facetted problems. Increasingly, companies are also recognising the need for technically-trained personnel to take up key appointments in management, production, marketing and sales.

11. Engineering is a rapidly evolving field offering a myriad of challenges across different domains and disciplines. Many exciting new disciplines are being developed at the intersection of traditional areas of specialisation. Nanotechnology, for example, is a cutting-edge multidisciplinary specialty that combines materials Engineering with quantum physics. We can find applications for nanotechnology throughout the society — in medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, defence, information systems, communications, and more. Engineers in future will be required to perform complex cross-disciplinary tasks. It is for this reason that we need to ensure that our bright and talented youths continue to make Engineering their choice of study.

12. There are many notable Singaporeans who have chosen to study and later pursue a career in Engineering. Among them is Mr Sim Wong Hoo, the founder, Chairman and CEO of Creative Technology and a successful entrepreneur. After obtaining a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ngee Ann Polytechnic (then known as Ngee Ann Technical College), he first worked as an electronics designer before establishing Creative Technology. Another example is Mr Koh Boon Hwee, Chairman of Singapore Airlines Limited. Mr Koh received his Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College in the UK. He is a well-known leader in the corporate world and chairs the boards of many publicly-listed companies in Singapore. I am sure his engineering background has played no small part in his success as a business leader.

13. From my personal experience, studying Engineering has been most satisfying and rewarding. I graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Cambridge University in 1981. My certificate says it’s a Bachelor of Arts degree because in Cambridge, engineering is regarded as a form of art. I still remember the experience of my first laboratory session. We were given a problem, to measure the geometrical dimensions of a set of irregularly shaped objects. Like all diligent students, my lab partner and I looked high and low for the instruction sheet and found none. It took us one whole afternoon just to figure out what to do. Problems in real life are often like that. You seldom find an instruction sheet to tell you how to solve a problem. The key is in systematically figuring out the methodology to solving the problem. Once you figure out how, the rest is easy. Engineering training equips you with the basic skills to solve complex problems. You learn to break down big problems into smaller problems that are easier to solve, you identify the root of each of the problems, determine the required outcome, develop the methodology to achieve the desired results, find the right tools and you have the solution.

14. My Engineering training has shaped the way I deal with problems and issues in my early career as an Administrative Service officer, in my private sector role as CEO of NatSteel as well as in my job as the Minister of State. Whether it is a business challenge, a management problem or a political issue, my approach is similar, breakdown big problems into smaller ones, identify the source of the problems, decide on the method to deal with it, find the right person for the job and it will get done.

Efforts to Promote Engineering

15. Our institutions of higher learning and government agencies have, over the past few years, made efforts to promote the study of Engineering.

Our polytechnics have jointly set up an Engineering Education Task Force in 2003, in partnership with the Singapore Science Centre, EDB and other organisations, to improve the perception of engineering studies and career among students, parents, teachers and the general public. This was done by highlighting the versatility of Engineering training, its relevance to the emerging industries as well as the prospects of the Engineering career. Our universities have also devoted considerable resources to Engineering research and education. It is indeed heartening to note that NUS and NTU are ranked among the top 30 technological universities in the world this year by The Times Higher Education Supplement, ahead of other reputable universities such as Cornell and Princeton.

16. The IES National Committee of Engineering Organisations, is undertaking a year-long program, called the Engineering Year 2005/ 2006, starting from 17 June this year to raise awareness of the importance of Engineering among the general public; to stimulate, encourage and nurture the passion for Engineering in our youths; and to give recognition to the contribution of engineers to the society.

17. I applaud the efforts of the IES National Committee of Engineering Organisations, to bring about this Engineering Fiesta. I am confident that this event will reach out to students, parents and the public at large, to showcase the work of engineers and to raise awareness of the prospects that Engineering education can offer.

18. On this note, it is my pleasure to declare the Engineers’ Week - Engineering Fiesta Open. Thank you.

[1] This is computed based on the mean of full time permanent employment rates (fresh and post-NS) of graduates for the Engineering (Electrical & Electronic) and Engineering (Mechanical & Manufacturing) NMC course categories in 2004. Source: 2004 GES Report in 2^nd (2005) MMP.

[2] This is computed based on the mean of full time permanent employment rates of graduates for Engineering for NUS and NTU respectively. Source: NUS and NTU.