Professor Tan Eng Chye, NUS President
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. A very good afternoon to each and every one of you.
2. It is my pleasure to join you at the NUS Lifelong Learning Festival, and to celebrate the School of Continuing and Lifelong Education's (SCALE) 10th anniversary. Today, we celebrate how far NUS and SCALE have come – and look ahead to the difference they can make in the next decade.
3. NUS established SCALE shortly after the launch of SkillsFuture. And in its first decade it was really about building training capacity and access alongside our national movement for lifelong learning. Together, NUS and SCALE have helped Singaporeans to refresh their skills; to make career transitions; and to remain relevant in a changing economy.
SCALE's Decade of Progress
4. SCALE, in its 10th year now, has much to be proud of. It has supported the growth of SkillsFuture-funded programmes in NUS from just three in 2016 to about 550 today.
5. These programmes serve learners at different stages of life – from young workers just starting out, to experienced professionals seeking new opportunities, while also helping companies develop their people.
6. And during the COVID pandemic, SCALE also stepped up to coordinate the SGUnited Skills Programme, offered by 12 NUS schools, to help displaced workers bounce back.
Key Shifts in SCALE's Next Decade
7. The theme of this year's Festival, "Human in the Age of AI", is timely. As we look to SCALE's next decade, AI and other technologies will accelerate changes in the operating environment.
8. Technology cycles are shortening. Business models and job roles are changing more quickly than ever. And over the course of longer careers, Singaporeans will need to refresh their skills throughout their working lives, myself included.
9. But these changes will also open up new opportunities for workers and companies too. NUS and our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) have an important part to play in the next bound of Continuing Education and Training, or CET, to help workers and companies seize these new opportunities.
10. First, IHLs must continue to strengthen the linkage between learning and career needs.
11. Our task is not simply just to offer more courses. Instead, what we want to do is to empower learners to acquire deep and relevant skills that employers can recognise and value.
12. Beyond foundational courses, IHLs can offer substantive programmes that expose learners to emerging knowledge, connect disciplines, and combine academic rigour with industry application.
13. This can be achieved through a wider range of pathways – from modular programmes all the way to full qualifications. And we welcome industry to work closely with IHLs to develop these programmes, so that what learners acquire translates into capabilities that companies need.
14. One example is NUS's Master of Science in Smart Industries and Digital Transformation. Through an industry project, learners apply their knowledge to real operational challenges, such as predictive maintenance and supply-chain digitalisation. With guidance from NUS faculty, learners develop proofs of concept grounded in real workplace needs, while helping companies develop workable solutions.
15. Second, IHLs must continue to innovate their offerings to meet our workforce's increasingly diverse needs.
16. For many adults, returning to learning is not easy – and many of us can identify with that. The barriers they face also differ. A young worker entering a new field, a mid-career professional balancing work and family, and an experienced senior worker adapting to new technology will each need different forms of support.
17. Our training pathways must therefore be flexible, accessible, and also easy to navigate.
18. Learners should be able to understand the options available to them, make informed choices, and then see how different pathways and qualifications support their longer-term aspirations.
19. NUS's Bachelor of Information Technology programme is one such example. It enables working adults and mid-career switchers to build essential IT capabilities through a part-time pathway, with opportunities to specialise in business analytics, software engineering or cybersecurity.
20. Customisable study options and classes outside regular working hours allow learners to upgrade without the need to step away from work, which can be a hurdle for some.
21. I encourage NUS and our other IHLs to continue efforts to make CET accessible to other learners and across other learner profiles by developing modular pathways, recognising skills acquired progressively, and also designing programmes around the practical realities faced by adult learners.
22. And third, IHLs can work closely with companies to support workforce and enterprise transformation.
23. As AI accelerates the pace of change in the economy as well as our labour market, it will become even more important for our enterprises and workforce to keep up.
24. But better outcomes cannot be achieved by focusing on learners alone.
25. New skills deliver their greatest value when companies are also ready to redesign jobs, adopt technology, and deploy workers differently.
26. The next frontier is to help individuals and businesses adapt and grow together.
27. The formation of the Skills and Workforce Development Agency also reflects this shift by bringing skills development, employment support, and business transformation more closely together.
28. Our IHLs are well-placed to support this effort, drawing on their distinctive strengths in cutting-edge research, deep disciplinary expertise, and wider innovation ecosystems.
29. In fact, if I can turn your attention to the plaques over there, representing: one, for the individual or the worker, two, for the industry, and three, for the educational institution.
30. This highlights the important symbiotic relationship, the very close partnership across these three groups, in lifelong learning.
31. Where exactly is government in this? The government is where the foundation is at. It is truly important in terms of making sure the partnerships remain close for the benefit of Singaporeans and Singapore as a whole.
32. NUS and SCALE can be strategic partners to companies by connecting research, innovation and enterprise with CET.
33. They can co-design offerings with experienced industry practitioners, use employer and learner outcomes to refresh programmes, and identify where technology and work are heading – so that we can train ahead of demand before skills gaps become acute.
34. NUS can also provide training and consultancy to companies, that combine skills development with job redesign and technology adoption.
35. I am sure that NUS has already begun this effort, because we can see the examples coming to the fore.
36. SCALE recently partnered NCS to develop customised training in applied AI, to support the newly launched NCS AI Institute. The Applied AI masterclasses and workshops will equip senior executives with the skills and know-how to address the practical challenges of deploying AI at scale.
37. This is a good example of how an IHL can help a company build workforce capabilities while adopting emerging technologies.
Concluding Remarks
38. Let me conclude. The SkillsFuture movement has built a strong foundation over the past decade. SCALE's first decade has helped build NUS's capabilities to design and deliver CET at scale.
39. As SCALE enters its next decade, I encourage you to build on this strong foundation, by strengthening the link between learning and career needs, designing pathways that meet the diverse needs of adult learners, and partnering companies in workforce and enterprise transformation.
40. Congratulations once again to SCALE on your 10th anniversary. May SCALE and NUS continue to pioneer not only wider access to lifelong learning, but also innovative and impactful forms of CET.
41. I wish everyone a fruitful NUS Lifelong Learning Festival 2026, with ideas exchanged, new partnerships formed, and fresh commitment to helping workers adapt, companies transform, and Singapore stay resilient.