NUS-ISS remained calm and undeterred throughout the very unusual past year in our resolve to keep learning journeys going through the tsunamis of change. I am proud of our team’s swift pivot in moving all our programmes online, training close to 9,500 PMEs from more than 900 companies and government sectors. To date, NUS-ISS is still the only organisation in Singapore to be certified ISO 29993:2017 - the quality mark for CET institutions for our full suite of programmes. 559 students graduated from our graduate programmes this year alone, and a total of 4,048 graduate certificates were issued through our stackable programmes since its launch.
In a dire economic climate, NUS-ISS instinctively supported national efforts such as SGUnited Jobs & Skills, where we launched six new certifiable pathways to help Singaporeans acquire in-demand digital skills. NUS-ISS is proud to have enabled several success stories in career conversion who pursued challenging learning pathways, landed prized jobs and continued to attain mastery in skills through NUS-ISS. One great example was a traditional chinese medicine practitioner who skilled up with 17 NUS-ISS executive education courses, and is now completing her Master of Technology programme after making an exciting career switch to digital project management. We also hosted 29 events to share industry knowledge and held our first-ever Virtual Learning Festival just two months out of the mandated nationwide circuit breaker, drawing 8,000 attendees worldwide, a ten-fold increase from the previous year’s onsite learning day.
Several milestones defined and highlighted NUS-ISS’ strengths in spite of a very trying year. In a monumental pivot, NUS-ISS was appointed by GovTech Singapore to be the official operations partner for The Digital Academy (TDA) to champion digital confidence of public officers. We are also very honoured to partner Yishun Health to drive its Data Driven Smart Health programme; National Council of Social Service (NCSS) and Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) to boost workplace learning through the Professional Diploma in Digitalisation programmes; and most recently Infineon Technologies on its strategic Artificial Intelligence roadmap. The AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Programme, launched in collaboration with SMU, AMTD Foundation and Xiaomi Finance completed two successful runs, training senior leaders to embrace FinTech in Singapore and beyond.
In the midst of all our exciting pursuits for growth, NUS-ISS remained thankful for the opportunities we have that the lesser fortunate do not. Through a spontaneous tech-for-good initiative, NUS-ISS ran a donation drive for pre-loved laptops to bless and train teachers in child-centred education from the Pyinya Sanyae Institute of Education (PSIE) in Yangon, who in turn were posted to teach disadvantaged youths living in poverty. Once the laptops arrived safely, our lecturers held an informative webinar to share new platforms for teaching to improve the quality of education available in Myanmar.
NUS-ISS has achieved much in 2020, and I am deeply touched by the persevering effort of every staff and their amazing teamwork. I also thank NUS-ISS Management Board members for bringing with them a wealth of industry experience and professional expertise to guide our team as we continue to develop digital talent every day into the future.
As we gear up for a highly anticipated homecoming at NUS-ISS’ transformed campus, I am thrilled by its inspiring work and learning spaces with creative features to support the next generation of learners and leaders. Having trained more than 151,000 professionals since 1981, NUS-ISS celebrates our 40th anniversary this year and I firmly believe that we are well positioned to attain new heights of excellence with our strategic pivots. For me, it has been a wonderful journey with NUS-ISS and I am looking forward to the next big leap as we warmly welcome you back to 25 Heng Mui Keng Terrace!
Ms Janet Ang
Chairman, NUS-ISS Management Board