SIT Partners SP Group to Boost Engineering Talent and Advance Singapore’s Energy Sector

The Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and SP Group (SP) are collaborating to enhance the capabilities of the power engineering workforce in Singapore. Through a three-year endeavour, SIT and SP will focus on upskilling and reskilling of SP’s employees. Both organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 17 July 2022 at Energy Innovation 2022, organised by the Energy Market Authority (EMA).

As Singapore advances towards a sustainable energy future and its Smart Nation ambitions, it is crucial that local talents gain knowledge and skills to adapt and thrive in the evolving energy sector. To grow engineering talent pipeline and skillset for the energy sector, the SIT-SP partnership seeks to provide continuous skills upgrading pathways for SP employees through a full-time undergraduate degree in Electrical Power Engineering.  Students will benefit from the Integrated Work Study Programme (IWSP) and Capstone Projects, which put theory into practice in real work situations. SIT and SP will provide students with workplace learning opportunities and innovation projects that address emerging needs of the energy industry.

Said Professor Chua Kee Chaing, SIT President: “This MOU underscores SIT’s shared commitment with SP to upskill and reskill different generations of power engineers, to cater to new industry demands. As the demands of tomorrow continue to evolve, it calls for closer academia-industry partnerships with industry leaders like SP, and a work-study approach to better train work-ready professionals. As SIT continues to expand its footprint across industries to address these ever-changing needs, we welcome like-minded partners to join our efforts to upskill, reskill, and build the workforce of tomorrow.”

Group Chief Executive Officer of SP Group, Stanley Huang, said, “We are pleased to launch the work-study programme with SIT, to help our workers upskill and adapt to the changing energy landscape. It enables them to pursue an engineering degree course full-time, while continuing in work roles during the course of their study and applying the knowledge they gain. This is part of SP Group’s commitment to continuously develop our workforce for the needs of our industry and support our workers in contributing effectively.”

Mr Ngiam Shih Chun, Chief Executive of EMA, said, “As Singapore advances our energy transition towards a more sustainable future, we will need to ensure that workers are equipped with relevant skillsets to take on new opportunities. EMA is supportive of such academia-industry partnerships in building up Singapore’s manpower capabilities for the energy sector. We are heartened to note SP Group’s strong emphasis and commitment on upskilling its employees. We hope this collaboration between SIT and SP Group will be the first of many such partnerships to come, to build a future-ready workforce that will propel Singapore’s energy sector forward.”

As a start, a pioneer cohort of SP employees will undertake a full-time three-year Electrical Power Engineering (EPE) undergraduate degree programme at SIT, starting in September 2022. The degree programme, jointly offered by SIT and Newcastle University, is specially customised to provide students with a holistic approach to learning while experiencing hands-on industry-focused activities. 

As part of this pioneer cohort in September 2022, five SP employees will be onboarded as full-time students, where they will get to apply existing practices from the workplace, and hone their skills through actual work exposure made possible by SIT’s unique applied learning pedagogy. SP will be sponsoring their studies as they pursue their career aspirations and grow their engineering capabilities.

This MOU is an extension of the ongoing partnership between SIT and SP over the past few years – which currently includes SP’s investment in Singapore’s first experimental, multi-energy microgrid at SIT’s future campus in the Punggol Digital District, signaling a long-term commitment of both organisations’ collective efforts to advance the energy sector in Singapore.

For the full press release, please go to SIT’s Digital Newsroom.