To ensure continuity of talent that is relevant and can contribute to the economy and society, governments are pushing for the workforce to upskill and reskill. The Future of Jobs report 2020 by the World Economic Forum reported that an estimated 40% of workers would require reskilling of six months or less. 

Across Asean, authorities are working to put forth initiatives to equip their workforce with future-ready capabilities and institute a culture of lifelong learning. Malaysia has allocated RM1.1 billion under Budget 2022 to upskill and train its workforce. Indonesia, too, is looking to put emphasis in vocational and educational training to improve the productivity of its workforce, while in the Philippines, government agencies and the private sector collaborated to launch the Philippine Skills Framework to equip the Filipino workforce with skills mastery and lifelong learning.

For Singapore, workforce upskilling and reskilling has been a national imperative since 2008. This year, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, in his Singapore Budget 2022 speech, re-emphasised the need to empower and equip Singaporeans on their lifelong journey to acquire new skills and sharpen existing ones. This time, the country went a step further and included plans to transform Singapore’s institutes of higher learning (IHL) to institutes for continual learning (ICL). 

The EY report Are universities of the past still the future? highlights that with a shortening half-cycle of knowledge and skills and the rapid turnover in market cycles, the workforce needs to continually upskill and reskill, and IHLs have a key role to play. 

Indeed, amid the fast-evolving business landscape impacting the skills and capabilities required, it is no longer imaginable that the education and knowledge gained in school during the first 15 to 20 years of our lives will be sufficient to take us through the rest of our work life or career. 

A changed approach to education

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Traditionally, IHLs are knowledge creators and have designed their undergraduate and postgraduate programs as continuous, multi-year structured courses that are conducted in group or classroom settings.

While this approach may work for full-time students, the same may not suit working individuals who cannot afford disruptions to their work schedule over an extended period or require a broader or more unique scope of learning. Hence the curriculum and delivery of training need to change – and since the pandemic, many IHLs have turned toward online learning. 

Online degrees and online learning are not new. In 2014, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) had launched its online teaching and learning initiative in cooperation with the University of California. Other examples include the Georgia Institute of Technology augmenting live lessons from faculty members in its online graduate program in data analytics via a collaboration platform where students can interact outside of class.  

Global online learning platform, Coursera entered the education scene about a decade ago, giving learners access to online programs from universities and companies around the world. Its bite-sized and flexible learning appealed to working individuals or learners residing in diverse locations, who can learn new skills remotely – without having to travel to the institutions to attend lessons physically.  

Indeed, for working individuals, learning needs to be made more flexible. To that end, learning programs can potentially evolve to become somewhat like “music playlists” in future, where individuals can opt for set course “playlists” or design entirely personalised, self-directed ones. Based on learning preferences and personal circumstances, learning modes can be personalised too. 

In fact, some IHLs are transitioning toward such an approach. For example, students at INSEAD’s MBA program can choose from more than 75 different electives. The Kellogg School of Management’s MBA gives students  the option to skip core courses and focus on electives that match their career goals from more than 200 courses. This allows learners to have their learning as broad or as focused as they would like, and supports a variety of career pathways needed. 

While Singapore IHLs offer customised learning, there is still a certain course structure that learners need to follow through. Moving forward, Singapore IHLs may consider remodeling their programs to offer flexibility in the mode of learning, as well as the content and scope of the courses. content and course scope. 

Supportive learning ecosystems

The education sector alone cannot fill current skills gaps. To ensure that IHLs develop programs that are relevant, an ecosystem approach is integral. Supported by the government, IHLs need to work with private enterprises and specialists to design programs that will develop capabilities that are in demand in the market. While many IHLs are already doing this, the review of the learning program cannot be a one-off exercise – else the updated curriculum can soon become obsolete in no time.  

In Singapore, as part of the SkillsFuture Queen Bee initiative, the government already engages and provides support to private enterprises to identify skills gaps and develop and deliver training in emerging and in-demand skills in certain sectors. IHL need to position themselves more strategically to play in this ecosystem, tapping into government resources and learning from private enterprises to co-develop and deliver reskilling and upskilling initiatives together. This should be a continual, repeatable cycle. There is also scope to extend collaboration to other Asean markets so that the wider region can benefit from the upsides of skills uplift collectively. 

With shifting learning needs in the workforce, IHLs too must be nimble to change if they were to remain relevant and competitive for the future of education – one that is expected to be radically different from today.

Benjamin Chiang is EY Asean and Singapore Government & Public Sector Leader and Samir Bedi is EY Asean Workforce Advisory Leader. The views in this article are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.