Applications for the SkillsFuture Study Awards for the Infocomm, Media and Design sectors will open up to 14 June 2016.
Announced by Singapore Minister for Communications and Information, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim at the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI)’s Committee of Supply Debate* 2016, the SkillsFuture Study Award encourages Singaporeans to take ownership of their own skills upgrading, in order to deepen specialist skills needed by future economic growth sectors.
A total of 310 SkillsFuture Study Awards will be available for application by Singaporeans who are in their early to mid-stages of their career and are interested in deepening their skills in the Infocomm, Media and Design sectors. These include:
150 awards from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA);
70 awards from the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) and;
90 awards from the DesignSingapore Council
Each award, valued at S$5,000, can be used to defray the recipients’ out-of-pocket training expenses for their courses. The award is bond-free and can be used on top of existing government course fee subsidies.
Interested?
Apply for the SkillsFuture Study Award. It is open for applications by Singaporeans, and nominations by employers. Applicants should:
Have at least three years of working experience in the relevant sector
Not be a previous recipient of any SkillsFuture Study Award
Read the TechTrade Asia blog post about Singapore's drive to strengthen infocomm skills
Hashtags: #COS2016, #SGBudget2016, #SmartNation, #YaacobIbrahim
*A Committee of Supply in Singapore consists of the whole Parliament, which will debate to consider the business of supply. It usually sits for seven days or more to deal with the estimates of expenditure for the coming financial year. The Committee considers each ministry’s request for funds and votes on it. In 2016, the debate runs from 6 to 14 April.
Showing posts with label infocomm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label infocomm. Show all posts
14 April 2016
12 April 2016
Singapore commits to growing talent in infocomm sector
Growth in the ICT sector and Singapore's Smart Nation initiatives are driving increased demand for infocomm professionals, said Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore Minister for Communications and Information, at the Committee of Supply Debate* in answer to queries by committee members. An additional 30,000 infocomm jobs must be filled by 2020, he said.
*A Committee of Supply in Singapore consists of the whole Parliament, which will debate to consider the business of supply. It usually sits for seven days or more to deal with the estimates of expenditure for the coming financial year. The Committee considers each ministry’s request for funds and votes on it. In 2016, the debate runs from 6 to 14 April.
"As demand far outstrips current supply, and because the landscape is changing so rapidly, it is difficult to meet company needs for skilled manpower without non-Singaporeans entirely. But we must do our best to support our Singaporeans to be highly skilled so that they can compete with global talent," he said in a speech during the debate.
In addition to ensuring sufficient computing science and IT places in institutes of higher learning (IHLs), Dr Yaacob said that students should have work-ready skills, while current workers in the sector should be able to renew skills easily. "We will focus our efforts in high demand areas such as software development, data analytics, cybersecurity, and network & infrastructure. We will hence set aside S$120 million to support training efforts in developing infocomm manpower capabilities, to address immediate and future manpower needs," he said.
Measures to boost the pipeline in talent include:
The Code@SG movement to develop coding and computational thinking as a national capability.
Ensuring more students from each cohort in the infocomm disciplines enter the sector, by providing them with work experience even prior to graduation. The new Industry Preparation for Pre-Graduates (iPREP) Programme will nurture selected students in a structured internship and mentorship framework so that they can build their portfolios and gain sufficient entry-level skills and experience prior to graduation.
"Over three years, we hope to increase the supply of professionals by 2,400," he said.
The government's co-funding of Company-Led Training (CLT) programmes with industry partners has been particularly successful. According to Dr Yaacob, every single participant in Google’s Squared Data and Analytics Programme, with the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) as a partner, found a job after the programme. "Hence, we will expand our CLT programmes to help more than a thousand professionals each year, compared to 160 today. Mid-level professionals will now also benefit from the local and oversea s training and attachments to build expertise and competencies for jobs in demand, especially in emerging areas like cybersecurity and analytics," he said.
Helping experienced professionals deepen their skills, or convert to new infocomm disciplines. "IDA’s Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme (CITREP) helps approximately 3,000 mid-level professionals take up professional short courses and certifications every year. Moving forward, we will expand the CITREP+ programme and also," Dr Yaacob noted.
More accelerated Tech Immersion and Placement programmes, or bootcamps. Last year, IDA partnered with General Assembly to offer bootcamps, providing immersive training for people with no background or industry experience in tech, but who have interest in a tech career. "Participants are taught through industry projects by industry practitioners, receive career support, and have job placements opportunities with potential employers. We will ramp up the capacity for to support more than 1,000 Singaporean trainees over the next three years, especially those with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) backgrounds," Dr Yaacob elaborated.
Partnerships through the newly-announced TechSkills Accelerator initiative. "The infocomm industry associations – Singapore IT Federation, Singapore Computer Society and the IT Management Association – have already played a huge role in the past, to develop the National Infocomm Competency Framework. These associations will continue to define new competencies, under the TechSkills Accelerator, and support our shift towards greater recognition of skills mastery.," Dr Yaacob said.
Proxor, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff, will introduce their skills validation platform as part of the TechSkills Accelerator, allowing employers to test potential employees’ skills in solving realistic problems. Funding support will be provided to Singaporeans who use the platform to validate their skills, Dr Yaacob said.
"A new feature of the TechSkills Accelerator is that the partnership will be anchored by major employers in the sector. This is important because employers must also themselves want to develop a strong Singapore core and offer competitive remuneration to recognise skills achievement, and not just paper qualifications," he added, calling the Government Technology Agency, Singtel, Mediacorp, ST Electronics, Integrated Health Information Systems, DBS and UOB anchor employers' of TechSkills Accelerator.
Finally, the minister shared that more than 300 SkillsFuture Study Awards will be given out by this time next year to early-to-mid-career Singaporeans to support aspirations in the infocomm media and design sectors. "Recipients will receive a monetary award of S$5,000 which can be used to defray out-of-pocket expenses associated with the course that they will take," he said.
"I encourage more companies to come on board and to put more emphasis in talent development, so that we can together, build a strong Singapore core for infocomm," Dr Yaacob concluded.
Interested?
Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post about the Singapore Budget announcement
Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about the Singapore government boosting national cybersecurity and content creation
Hashtags: #SGBudget2016, #SmartNation, #YaacobIbrahim
In addition to ensuring sufficient computing science and IT places in institutes of higher learning (IHLs), Dr Yaacob said that students should have work-ready skills, while current workers in the sector should be able to renew skills easily. "We will focus our efforts in high demand areas such as software development, data analytics, cybersecurity, and network & infrastructure. We will hence set aside S$120 million to support training efforts in developing infocomm manpower capabilities, to address immediate and future manpower needs," he said.
Measures to boost the pipeline in talent include:
The Code@SG movement to develop coding and computational thinking as a national capability.
Ensuring more students from each cohort in the infocomm disciplines enter the sector, by providing them with work experience even prior to graduation. The new Industry Preparation for Pre-Graduates (iPREP) Programme will nurture selected students in a structured internship and mentorship framework so that they can build their portfolios and gain sufficient entry-level skills and experience prior to graduation.
"Over three years, we hope to increase the supply of professionals by 2,400," he said.
The government's co-funding of Company-Led Training (CLT) programmes with industry partners has been particularly successful. According to Dr Yaacob, every single participant in Google’s Squared Data and Analytics Programme, with the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) as a partner, found a job after the programme. "Hence, we will expand our CLT programmes to help more than a thousand professionals each year, compared to 160 today. Mid-level professionals will now also benefit from the local and oversea s training and attachments to build expertise and competencies for jobs in demand, especially in emerging areas like cybersecurity and analytics," he said.
More accelerated Tech Immersion and Placement programmes, or bootcamps. Last year, IDA partnered with General Assembly to offer bootcamps, providing immersive training for people with no background or industry experience in tech, but who have interest in a tech career. "Participants are taught through industry projects by industry practitioners, receive career support, and have job placements opportunities with potential employers. We will ramp up the capacity for to support more than 1,000 Singaporean trainees over the next three years, especially those with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) backgrounds," Dr Yaacob elaborated.
Partnerships through the newly-announced TechSkills Accelerator initiative. "The infocomm industry associations – Singapore IT Federation, Singapore Computer Society and the IT Management Association – have already played a huge role in the past, to develop the National Infocomm Competency Framework. These associations will continue to define new competencies, under the TechSkills Accelerator, and support our shift towards greater recognition of skills mastery.," Dr Yaacob said.
Proxor, a Carnegie Mellon University spinoff, will introduce their skills validation platform as part of the TechSkills Accelerator, allowing employers to test potential employees’ skills in solving realistic problems. Funding support will be provided to Singaporeans who use the platform to validate their skills, Dr Yaacob said.
"A new feature of the TechSkills Accelerator is that the partnership will be anchored by major employers in the sector. This is important because employers must also themselves want to develop a strong Singapore core and offer competitive remuneration to recognise skills achievement, and not just paper qualifications," he added, calling the Government Technology Agency, Singtel, Mediacorp, ST Electronics, Integrated Health Information Systems, DBS and UOB anchor employers' of TechSkills Accelerator.
Finally, the minister shared that more than 300 SkillsFuture Study Awards will be given out by this time next year to early-to-mid-career Singaporeans to support aspirations in the infocomm media and design sectors. "Recipients will receive a monetary award of S$5,000 which can be used to defray out-of-pocket expenses associated with the course that they will take," he said.
Interested?
Read the WorkSmart Asia blog post about the Singapore Budget announcement
Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts about the Singapore government boosting national cybersecurity and content creation
Hashtags: #SGBudget2016, #SmartNation, #YaacobIbrahim
26 November 2015
Singapore's IDA creates snapshot of home computer usage in Singapore for 2014
The Infocomm Development Authority's (IDA’s) Annual Survey on Infocomm Usage in Households 2014 states that more seniors in Singapore are using smartphones, computers and the Internet. The survey showed that in 2014, about 74% of Singapore residents had used the computer in the three months before the survey, with the biggest jump for senior citizens aged 50 years and above.
Between 2012 and 2014, there was a significant increase of 14 and 11 percentage-points in computer usage by senior citizens aged 50 to 59 and above 60 respectively. This brought the total percentage of computer usage among senior citizens to 63% for those aged 50 to 59 years and 27% for those aged older.
In addition, the survey showed that Internet usage rate by senior citizens rose to 75% for those in their fifties, and 31% for those 60 and older, a gain of 24% and 15% compared to 2012 respectively. In fact, in 2014, more than three-quarters of the younger and one-third of the older senior citizen segments said they had used a smartphone to access the Internet in the past three months. This represented an increase of 30% and 19% percentage-points respectively against 2012.
Household Internet and broadband access also continued to increase in 2014, and households are increasingly using Internet-enabled mobile phones for Internet access. Home Internet and broadband access rates rose to 88% and 87.5% respectively in 2014. For households with school-going children, Internet and broadband access rates were 98% and 97% respectively in 2014. Fibre and wireless broadband (3G, 4G) continued to replace ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) and cable as the Internet connection of choice at home, with 62% of resident households using fibre broadband in 2014 (up from 25% in 2012), and 56% using wireless broadband in 2014 (38% in 2012).
Another trend is the rise of online shopping among Singapore residents. Online shoppers were mainly aged from 15 to 49 years, with credit card payment being the most common among those aged 25 and above. The majority of online shoppers spent at least S$100 on their online purchases. The three most popular items purchased online were apparel, travel products and tickets for entertainment events.
On the cyber security front, the survey found that more than eight in 10 installed antivirus software and security updates on computer used to access the Internet at home while adoption rates of antivirus software installation on smartphones were comparatively lower, at about three in 10.
The top three primary Internet activities among Singapore residents were related to communication, leisure activities and getting information, with the topmost online activity on mobile equipment being the use of social networks.
Steve Leonard, IDA’s Executive Deputy Chairman, commented, “We are encouraged to see residents becoming more tech-savvy and connected, particularly the silver generation. This is useful to help the industry explore new opportunities to serve our citizens better and help build Singapore into a Smart Nation.”
It should be noted that the different surveys are not precisely apples-to-apples as more Singapore residents born in recent years enter their fifties and are classed as seniors in each subsequent survey. Those born in 1963 and 1964 would not have been classed as senior citizens in 2012. Likewise, those born in 1961 and 1962 were not considered senior citizens until after 2010. It is possible that the results for the 50 to 59 year-old segment reflect technology-savviness in 50- and 51 year-olds, rather than seniors in general deciding to learn about smartphones and the Internet. The results for those aged 60 and above however remain significant.
Interested?
Download the survey (PDF)
Download the complete infographic
Note: All images from the IDA infographic.
*The annual survey has been conducted for more than 20 years, and its objective is to assess the extent of infocomm adoption in Singapore resident households and residents. This latest survey’s data was collected from about 3,500 households and about 3,500 residents via face-to-face interviews.
1 A smartphone has more sophisticated functions than a feature phone. Examples of such functions are: i) able to open and read documents (e.g. PDFs, Office documents) and ii) able to add or install applications on the phone. These two categories are mutually exclusive, i.e. a mobile phone can only be categorised as a feature phone or a smartphone but not both.
2 Households with access to the Internet via both broadband and narrowband had been categorised as those with broadband Internet access. Some households had more than one type of broadband connection at home.
3 Mobile equipment is defined as portable equipment excluding laptops or notebooks.
In addition, the survey showed that Internet usage rate by senior citizens rose to 75% for those in their fifties, and 31% for those 60 and older, a gain of 24% and 15% compared to 2012 respectively. In fact, in 2014, more than three-quarters of the younger and one-third of the older senior citizen segments said they had used a smartphone to access the Internet in the past three months. This represented an increase of 30% and 19% percentage-points respectively against 2012.
Household Internet and broadband access also continued to increase in 2014, and households are increasingly using Internet-enabled mobile phones for Internet access. Home Internet and broadband access rates rose to 88% and 87.5% respectively in 2014. For households with school-going children, Internet and broadband access rates were 98% and 97% respectively in 2014. Fibre and wireless broadband (3G, 4G) continued to replace ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) and cable as the Internet connection of choice at home, with 62% of resident households using fibre broadband in 2014 (up from 25% in 2012), and 56% using wireless broadband in 2014 (38% in 2012).
Another trend is the rise of online shopping among Singapore residents. Online shoppers were mainly aged from 15 to 49 years, with credit card payment being the most common among those aged 25 and above. The majority of online shoppers spent at least S$100 on their online purchases. The three most popular items purchased online were apparel, travel products and tickets for entertainment events.
On the cyber security front, the survey found that more than eight in 10 installed antivirus software and security updates on computer used to access the Internet at home while adoption rates of antivirus software installation on smartphones were comparatively lower, at about three in 10.
The top three primary Internet activities among Singapore residents were related to communication, leisure activities and getting information, with the topmost online activity on mobile equipment being the use of social networks.
Steve Leonard, IDA’s Executive Deputy Chairman, commented, “We are encouraged to see residents becoming more tech-savvy and connected, particularly the silver generation. This is useful to help the industry explore new opportunities to serve our citizens better and help build Singapore into a Smart Nation.”
It should be noted that the different surveys are not precisely apples-to-apples as more Singapore residents born in recent years enter their fifties and are classed as seniors in each subsequent survey. Those born in 1963 and 1964 would not have been classed as senior citizens in 2012. Likewise, those born in 1961 and 1962 were not considered senior citizens until after 2010. It is possible that the results for the 50 to 59 year-old segment reflect technology-savviness in 50- and 51 year-olds, rather than seniors in general deciding to learn about smartphones and the Internet. The results for those aged 60 and above however remain significant.
Interested?
Download the survey (PDF)
Download the complete infographic
Note: All images from the IDA infographic.
*The annual survey has been conducted for more than 20 years, and its objective is to assess the extent of infocomm adoption in Singapore resident households and residents. This latest survey’s data was collected from about 3,500 households and about 3,500 residents via face-to-face interviews.
1 A smartphone has more sophisticated functions than a feature phone. Examples of such functions are: i) able to open and read documents (e.g. PDFs, Office documents) and ii) able to add or install applications on the phone. These two categories are mutually exclusive, i.e. a mobile phone can only be categorised as a feature phone or a smartphone but not both.
2 Households with access to the Internet via both broadband and narrowband had been categorised as those with broadband Internet access. Some households had more than one type of broadband connection at home.
3 Mobile equipment is defined as portable equipment excluding laptops or notebooks.
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