'Precision education' can take off in Singapore
Awarding 'micro credentials' after periodic bursts of learning can build future-ready workers. But first, obstacles have to be removed.
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WE ARE now living in a world in which work is being transformed at a phenomenal rate, driven by an explosion of knowledge, advancing technology, and globalisation. The combined impact of artificial intelligence (AI), automation, 5G and quantum computing is accelerating changes within the workforce. According to American computer scientist and writer Lee Kai Fu, AI technology could displace about 40 per cent of the jobs in the world in the next 15 years.
Employers across international economies surveyed by the World Economic Forum have estimated that by 2022, no less than 54 per cent of all employees will require significant reskilling and upskilling. Large corporations cannot rehire and replace large segments of their workforce. Low unemployment rate, high demand for skilled workers and cost of hiring have led some to focus on reskilling their existing pool of employees that are at risk of displacement.
In the United States, higher education is not keeping pace with the needs of large American corporations such as Amazon and Walmart. Amazon is investing US$700 million over six years to retrain 100,000 employees so they can transition to more technical roles; Walmart invested US$2.7 billion between 2016 and 2017 to establish Walmart Academy nation-wide, in order to provide on-site and online training to front-line workers, as well as clear paths to advancement, a key to the success of such schemes.
