Singapore, 18 July 2019 — Private education (PE) is carving out its own digital and sustainability road map — with measures to help its graduates, staff and faculty members sail forward with a new age in connectivity. These measures, which include a milestone industry- wide partnership with SAP Next-Gen, and the adoption of GovTech’s OpenCerts, a new digital certification platform that adopts blockchain technology, were announced at the Singapore Association for Private Education’s (SAPE) Annual Conference today of over 250 academics and professionals at SIM Headquarters, with Guest of Honour Mr. Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry & Ministry of Education in attendance.
These initiatives are inspired by Singapore’s Industry Transformation Maps’ four pillars of focus — jobs and skills, innovation, internationalisation and productivity — and aim to ultimately bridge and close the future skills gap of graduates from private schools against the expectations of employers in the changing workforce.
“As long as private education continues to serve the needs of the community, the industry must be a champion for lifelong learning and innovation, and keep pace with the nation’s digital transformation. In adopting enhancements that raise our standards in service and delivery, we can remain accountable to our students, who also face the pressures of the evolving workplace. This unwavering drive for self-reflection and improvement, can help insure our place in the future of education,” says Mr. Viva Sinniah, President, SAPE.
Adopting digital-first approaches to process
SAPE will begin to champion the adoption of GovTech’s new OpenCerts, to issue digital tamper-resistant certificates to graduates of member schools. Concurrently, SAPE is also exploring with a local vendor to adopt IoT and new technologies to streamline and simplify work in teaching and assessment, especially the crucial and resource-intensive examination administration process. Digitising this process will allow teachers and institutions to better use data to analyse students’ assessment behaviours, to fine-tune learning techniques and improve teaching pedagogy at scale, and ultimately improve student outcomes.
Building skills for education’s digital future
More than 3,000 staff members, faculty members and students will learn about process automation and innovation technologies that may impact the way they live and work. As part of the collaboration with SAP, SAPE member institutions can become SAP Next-Gen members and take part in mutual sharing and dissemination of thought leadership on topics like digital transformation and the Intelligent Enterprise in the Experience Economy. They will also have access to free learning content which can be rolled out through workshops, seminars, and industry tours in their schools. The exposure will help participants discover science fiction thinking and build digital skills for their future careers. This will help both SAP and SAPE fulfill their commitment to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which aim to uplift education, end poverty, protect the planet, fight diseases, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030.
“Through this collaboration with SAPE, we aim to make progress under that 2030 Agenda by harnessing the power of technologies to overcome the digital divide in Singapore,” said Mr. Khor Chern Chuen, Managing Director, SAP. “By leveraging from the best technologies from SAP, SAPE’s staff, faculty members and students will truly get a competitive edge by experiencing the latest innovation for them to potentially succeed in the digital economy.”
Levelling the playing field for growth
In a move to revamp employee talent management within the PE industry, SAPE will lead the first-ever industry-wide compensation and benefits benchmarking exercise in collaboration with a third-party consulting firm. This will provide insights and direction for the PE industry to continuously improve on nurturing and retaining talent, as well as uphold competitive and sustainable employment practices in the industry.
SAPE will be pro-actively engaging relevant agencies to provide support and the platform to the PE sector, by exploring project funding opportunities, equal exposure of opportunities and initiatives between the institutes of higher learning and PEIs, and developmental support for the continued growth and innovation within the industry.