About S$30 million will be invested in infocomm manpower development programmes over the next two years as Singapore seeks to ensure that its infocomm talent pool remains competitive and is able to keep pace with developments in the industry. The programmes are aligned with the Infocomm Manpower Development Roadmap v2.0 (MDEV 2.0) which was announced by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) on
4 March 2011.

MDEV 2.0 is a four-year plan that builds on the achievements and momentum of the first Infocomm Manpower Development Roadmap.  The first Infocomm Manpower Development Roadmap was introduced in 2005 to attract good students to study infocomm and to increase the employability of infocomm graduates and infocomm professionals by providing them with industry-relevant skills.

Mr Lui Tuck Yew: One of the three targeted outcomes of MDEV 2.0 is to develop talent with deep infocomm skills and the ability to exploit infocomm for sectoral transformation.

Giving details of the new roadmap at the Singapore Computer Society’s Gala Dinner and IT Leader Awards ceremony, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Mr Lui Tuck Yew said one of the three targeted outcomes of MDEV 2.0 is to develop talent with deep infocomm skills and the ability to exploit infocomm for sectoral transformation.

To achieve this, IDA, together with the Workforce Development Agency, will enhance the continuing education and training landscape for infocomm with courses in new and emerging areas such as cloud computing, green IT and digital forensics.

IDA will also expand its Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme (CITREP) to train a targeted 8,000 professionals in these areas over the next two years. Under the expanded programme, training providers will be eligible for course funding levels of up to 70 per cent.

In addition, a new “Hybrid Skills Development Programme” will be implemented to provide professionals with skills and expertise to bring sector domain knowledge to bear when developing infocomm solutions. The programme will incorporate practical training in areas such as financial services and healthcare, enabling infocomm professionals to contribute greater value to these business sectors.

Another outcome of MDEV 2.0 is to ensure that Singapore has a good pipeline of infocomm talent. Mr Lui noted that IDA already has several initiatives in place including student outreach programmes, scholarship programmes as well as collaborations between industry and academia to ensure that the infocomm curriculum taught in the polytechnics and universities is aligned with industry or market needs. Moving forward, greater emphasis will be placed on company internships and project work for tertiary students, he said.

IDA will also be working closely with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to promote computing amongst pre-tertiary students and to develop talent with “fresh insights, varied ideas and a well-developed skill set”. To this end, MOE will be revising the A-level Computing syllabus to focus on computational thinking, a problem-driven approach that encourages students to explore and discover computing concepts. The changes will be introduced to JC1 students from 2012 onwards.

The third targeted outcome of MDEV 2.0 is to ensure that Singapore’s manpower profile is more closely aligned with its role as a leading infocomm hub in Asia. Mr Lui noted that over the past four years, infocomm multinational corporations (MNCs) such as HP Labs, IBM, NTT Communications and Oracle have hosted critical IT functions in Singapore to serve the region. In addition, Singapore acts as a hub for other MNCs to deliver internal IT services to their subsidiaries in the region and beyond. “This has led to an upward shift in the skill level and seniority of infocomm professionals needed, such as project managers and software architects,” he said.

In view of this, Singapore will continue to work towards the provision of world-class infocomm education and the deepening of capabilities, so as to develop a professional infocomm workforce for these high-end, high value-added jobs, Mr Lui added.

MDEV 2.0, a joint effort between government and industry, is expected to benefit more than 18,000 infocomm professionals, as well as school students in Singapore.