SIA Engineering Company (SIAEC) S59 will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with seven institutes of higher learning (IHL) with the aim of establishing a range of skilled professionals, promoting lifelong learning opportunities for SIAEC’s workforce, and facilitating bilateral knowledge exchange between industry and academia.
The IHLs who will be signing the MOU are the Institute of Technical Education, Nanyang Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, and Singapore Institute of Technology. Minister for Education, Chan Chun Sing, will be witnessing the signing ceremony later on March 22.
The collaboration between SIAEC and the IHLs will involve close collaboration in curating industry-relevant training curricula, facilitating structured internships and industry attachments, increasing job placement opportunities, and participating in interdisciplinary projects and research with IHL students and academic staff. This initiative builds upon SIAEC's existing programs that promote lifelong learning and secure a consistent stream of talented individuals.
At the same time, the academia stands to benefit from the partnership with SIAEC’s experience as a top aerospace company that specialises in aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul. Through this collaboration, academia will gain invaluable insights into the latest industry practices and technologies, as well as exposure to industry developments like new aircraft types. These experiences will enable academia to acquire the necessary competencies and remain up-to-date with the ever-changing aerospace landscape.
The MOU will also see new initiatives such as focusing on attracting talents from disciplines that are essential to the future growth of the aerospace industry by creating greater awareness to a range of professional expertise required by the aerospace industry. Such areas include sustainability, digital innovation, maintenance operations planning, continuing airworthiness management, business development and more.
The collaboration will also emphasise the significance of Continuing Education and Training (CET) programmes in which SIAEC will utilise the broad range of knowledge and expertise provided by the IHLs to improve such programmes.
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“Increasingly, automation and digital technologies are being adopted in the aerospace industry, demanding the need for our workforce to acquire new skills and competencies. This MOU underpins our commitment to nurture and provide good career opportunities for our students and support the continuous upskilling and reskilling of our workforce to ensure they can meet existing and future business demands. We are confident that the collaborations with the IHLs arising from this MOU will enable us to develop a future-ready workforce and enable SIAEC to continue to capture growth opportunities going forward,” says Foo Kean Shuh, executive vice president operations and chief sustainability officer of SIAEC.
Shares in SIAEC closed 1 cent higher or 0.46% up at $2.19 on March 21.
