Increase in demand for professionals in certain sectors

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Dr Wan Rizal, Jalan Besar GRC

Question

To ask the Minister for Education as there is an increasing demand for professionals in the healthcare, infocomm technology, cybersecurity and e-commerce sectors, whether the Ministry will consider to offer more of such related courses in local polytechnics, allowing students to gain a relevant foothold in the job market during the current economic climate.

Response

1. The Ministry of Education works closely with the polytechnics and manpower and economic agencies to plan the supply of places across the polytechnics, taking into account students' interests, industry demand and national manpower needs. In 2021, Health Sciences and Information & Digital Technologies courses accounted for 20.0% of all polytechnic places, up from 16.8% in 2017, reflecting healthy industry demand, as well as students' interests.

2. More broadly, the polytechnics seek to strengthen students' exposure to emerging areas, including the ones mentioned by the Member. These opportunities are not confined to students in these fields. For example, all Singapore Polytechnic students can offer electives that are relevant for growth sectors, such as the Internet of Things and Entrepreneurship, regardless of their diploma course.

3. In addition, the polytechnics offer Continuing Education and Training (CET) courses in emerging and high demand sectors, including healthcare, medical technology, biomedical science, digital media and e-commerce. These range from full-qualification Part-time Diplomas, Specialist Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas and Work-Study Post Diplomas, to modular courses of a shorter duration.