Lifelong learning and earning: The changing landscape of higher education in Singapore

Abstract

Post-secondary education in Singapore is undergoing momentous change with a hugely funded, centrally governed and pervasive shift towards an industry engagement, lifelong learning and skills agenda across all education segments. While Singapore has long had dedicated skills and technical training available through its public-finded Continuing Education and Training programmes, Institutes of Technical Education and Polytechnics, the promotion of the Singapore Institute of Technology in 2014 to University status in its own right signalled that the hitherto research-driven Singaporean Public Universities would not be excluded from the party. The subsequent launch of the - Skills Future‖ funding to Singaporean citizens over 25 and spread throughout their working life, thereby enabling the public to take up offerings from across a plethora of approved education providers and types, furthermore emphasises this changing landscape. Such policies awaken the new dawn of a Higher Education that is modular, not refined to traditional temporal orders and aligned more to industry needs. The impact on the curriculum, structure and administration of University and Private Education Institutes will be significant.