Big firms laud scheme to give poly, ITE students job exposure

[SINGAPORE] Some of Singapore's biggest employers have embraced the proposal to roll out a place-and-train programme for polytechnic and Institute of Technical Education (ITE) graduates to help upgrade their skills.

On Monday, the government announced that it would launch such a programme - modelled after apprenticeship schemes in Switzerland and Germany - in certain sectors that require a deeper level of skills training. This will be piloted from 2016.

Those on board would join a company as a salaried employee, with the potential to earn more after they complete the programme if they performed well and took on larger job scopes.