Oral Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan to Parliamentary Question on Engineering Capabilities

Ms Sun Xueling asked the Minister for Transport 

a.     how does the Ministry ensure that there are sufficient engineering graduates from our institutions of higher learning to meet the projected needs for rail engineering and the opening of the Thomson-East Coast Line; and

b.     whether the Ministry has plans to train young engineers to develop "deep engineering expertise" as recommended by SMRT's technical advisory panel and, if so, what are these plans.

Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan:

1.     The railway industry employs more than 2,000 engineers and 4,000 technicians today. By 2020, we expect to employ 1,500 more engineers and technicians to build, operate and maintain our expanding rail network. The Singapore Rail Academy, which was established in February this year, will coordinate and drive industry-wide efforts to grow engineering capabilities in the railway sector. 

2.     “Deep expertise” is the most valuable currency in the railway industry. To facilitate skills development and upgrading, Government, Industry and the Unions are working in partnership to develop the Public Transport Skills Framework. This Framework provides consistent industry-wide standards on the skills and competencies required at different levels in the railway sector, and the corresponding training courses. With this, training institutions can better design their curricula to cater to the attainment of different skill levels. Employers can also use this framework to put in place structured on-the-job skills development programmes. Students and workers seeking to upgrade themselves will have information on the programmes available to help them reach the next skill level and concrete milestones to work towards.  

3.     At the same time, we are also stepping up training efforts. Over the past three years, our ITE, Polytechnics, and Universities launched seven new railway engineering courses, ranging from NITEC to Masters. The first few batches of graduates will be ready to join the industry in the next one to two years. We are also working with programme partners to launch more rail-related Continuing Education and Training programmes. For example, Singapore Polytechnic has launched the Earn-And-Learn programme that enables ITE graduates who are working in the rail industry to upgrade their skills by taking courses that can eventually add up to a diploma. NTU has just introduced a new Specialist Certificate in Civil Infrastructure Engineering to help environmental engineers gain civil engineering knowledge. In addition, we are also looking to supplement the pipeline of engineers by offering professional conversion programmes (PCPs) for potential mid-career hires. To date, some 108 PCP placements have been taken by the two rail operators.