Top 5: SGUnited Skills (SGUS) Programme In Numbers

By now, Singaporeans would be familiar with the SGUnited Skills programmes (SGUS). However, do you know which school in Singapore is offering the most number of SGUS programmes?

If you had read my previous post on why I signed up for an SGUS programme, you might be tempted to go to the table I presented in the article to look for the answer. However, that table showed the areas of training against the training providers, so you won’t be able to tell the answer by looking up the table.

(You can still take a look at the table here if you are still curious, though)

While I was researching for my earlier post on the SGUnited Skills programmes, the data nerd in me couldn’t help but notice the trends and patterns in the number of programmes being offered. Therefore, not only did I find out which 5 schools offered the most number of SGUS programmes, I also found out which areas of training Singapore is most capable of delivering.

Read More: Best SGUnited Mid-Career Pathways – Company Training for 2021

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Interesting Numbers About SGUnited Skills (SGUS) Programmes

But first, some helicopter view of the numbers revolving around SGUnited Skills (SGUS). Based on the data I extracted from SkillsFuture Singapore’s Training Exchange in end Sep 2020, there were 22 training providers who were offering SGUS Programmes. The programmes covered 30 areas of training. Together, 189 SGUS programmes were offered (end Oct update: 217). 

If there’s only 1 run for each programme, with each run accepting up to 20 learners (as per recommended industry practice), then about 3,780 Singaporeans would be benefiting from this initiative. However, as there are SGUS programmes that were not listed on the SSG’s course portal, on top of programmes like IBM’s i.am-vitalize that are taking more than 100 learners, the number of out-of-job Singaporeans benefiting from SGUS should be higher. 

More than 3,780 Singaporeasns affected by the pandemic will benefit from the SGUnited Skills (SGUS) programmes.

Top 5: Areas of Training With The Most Training Providers for SGUnited Skills (SGUS) 

In my post introducing SGUnited Skills Programmes, I had a table that listed down the training providers for each of the areas of training. I consolidated the data and then filtered out the top 5 areas of training with the most number of training providers.

In other words, it’s easier to find a training provider that fits your needs in these top 5 areas of training. Lucky for us  superficial Singaporeans, there is a tie at the 5th place, so we have 8 areas of training in the top 5 now!

SN	Areas of Training	Number of Training Providers
1	Information and Communications	10
2	Healthcare	6
3	Engineering	6
4	Building and Construction	5
5	Wholesale and Retail Trade, Manufacturing, Transportation and Storage, Business Management	4

Top 5: Areas of Training With The Most Number of SGUnited Skills (SGUS)  Programmes

However, when we look at the number of individual programmes offered under each area of training, the list and ranking changes.

SN	Areas of Training	Number of Programmes
1	Information and Communications	63
2	Manufacturing	24
3	Engineering	21
4	Healthcare	19
5	Wholesale and Retail Trade	19

Information and Communications (ICT) As The Skills-to-Get

There is no surprise that the Information and Communications (ICT) area topped both lists. Singapore has built up training capabilities in ICT for the past decades. In recent years, more effort was put into training digital talents, following the Report of the Committee on the Future Economy’s recommended strategy to build strong digital capabilities.

In the economic survey released for Q2 2020, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has also projected the ICT sector to expand in 2020, driven by the “continued demand from firms for IT and digital solutions”. In fact, other than the SGUS that is spearheaded by SkillsFuture Singapore, IMDA is also pushing to train Singaporeans for the ICT sector during this downturn, with the Company Led Training Programme (CLT) and Mid-Career Advance Programme under the TechSkills Accelerator (TeSA) initiative. (Click on the related links to find out how those programmes can help both unemployed and in-service professionals to switch careers or deepen your expertise!)

The manufacturing sector expanded in 3 of the past 5 years.

Manufacturing Is Still The Workhorse of Singapore’s Economy

Other than reflecting the immediate needs for talents in these areas of expertise, this data also shows us what the schools (and in turn the government) think will be the skills most in demand in the coming years. After all, these SGUS programmes last between 6 – 9 months, so they’re supposed to train talents for a job market in March to Sep 2021. 

Since training providers take a much longer time to be established compared to course development, we can see the number of training providers per area of training as “what skills training Singapore had been focusing on”, and the number of programmes per area of training as “what skills Singapore foresees would be in demand in the coming years”.

Of the latter list, the one that stood out most (other than ICT) was Manufacturing at the number 2 spot. Manufacturing had gone from contributing over 30% of Singapore’s GDP in the 1990s to just 20.9% in 2019. One would have thought that this is a declining industry.

However, when I looked at MTI’s annual report, the manufacturing sector had expanded in 3 of the past 5 years. While Singapore has relied less on manufacturing to grow its economy, it has also transited from low value added manufacturing activities to the high value added ones.

2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
-5.2%	+3.6%	+10.1%	+7.2%	-1.4%

The spurts of growth were driven by the likes of electronics and precision engineering, and the biomedical manufacturing sector. Indeed, when I took a brief look at the SGUS programmes offered in manufacturing, most of them were about robotics, automation and advanced manufacturing. 

Engineering and Healthcare Are Skills Great For Various Sectors

In fact, when you look at the Top 5 list in totality, you will find Engineering and Healthcare, both of which are also related to high value added manufacturing activities, in the 3rd and 4th spots. With MTI also projecting that the electronics and precision engineering, as well as the biomedical manufacturing sector to expand in 2020, it might be wise for jobseekers to take up SGUS programmes in these 3 areas of training.

On a side note, it doesn’t mean that jobs in the Services sector (like retail and F&B) are not in demand. Based on the data released by the Ministry of Manpower in Sep 2020, the Services sector has the highest number of job vacancies at 36,900. As the Services sector is dominated by non-PMET jobs, and with SGUS focuses more on PMET training, the lack of representation of this high-demand skills on this list is expected.

Read more: The Best SGUnited Skills Programmes

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Top 5: Training Providers With Most Areas of Training in SGUnited Skills (SGUS) 

If we do a reverse calculation, we are able to find out which training institutions have the greatest breadth in terms of areas of training. These are the top 5 training providers who are offering SGUS programmes in the most number of areas of training.

Training Providers	Number of Areas of Training
Temasek Polytechnic	14
Republic Polytechnic	12
Singapore Polytechnic	11
Institute Technical Education	9
National University of Singapore	4

Before you jump into questioning why National University of Singapore, with its vast resources and expertise, is only offering programmes in 4 areas of training. 

The programmes NUS is offering are: 5D BIM for Built Environment Professionals, International Financial Technology (FinTech) for non-Technical Executives, Manufacturing Robotics and Automation, and Marine & Port Services. If these sound like alien topics to you, you are right. These are highly technical subjects for very niche topics. NUS is telling Singaporeans that they are focusing on quality instead of quantity.

Also worth noting is that out of the 22 training providers surveyed, half of them offer programmes in less than 5 training areas. Most of them are government Institutes of Higher Learning that chose to focus on their niche. Therefore, there is no harm in applying for the SGUS programmes offered by these small scale academies.

That being said, it doesn’t mean the polytechnics are spamming the SGUS offerings. Throughout the years, they have established schools spanning a wide range of areas of expertise. In fact, when we look at the total number of programmes offered by the training providers, we can see that the polytechnics are the backbone of Singapore’s talent pipeline.

Top 5: Training Providers With The Most Number of SGUnited Skills (SGUS) Programmes

Together with ITE, the polytechnics offered 109 SGUS programmes. The programmes offered by these 5 institutions made up 58% of all the available SGUS programmes.

Training Provider	Total Number of Programmes	Area of Training
Singapore Polytechnic	29	Information and Communications; Engineering; Manufacturing; Marine and Port Services;Security and Investigation; Building and Construction; Accounting, Banking & Finance; Advertising, Sales & Marketing; Community and Social Services; Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology; Real Estate.
Temasek Polytechnic	25	Information and Communications; Engineering; Security and Investigation; Building and Construction; Accounting, Banking & Finance; Business Management; Design; Agriculture and Fishing; Healthcare; Legal; MICE & Events; Productivity and Innovation; Transportation and Storage; Water Supply and Waste Management.
Institute Technical Education	20	Information and Communications; Engineering; Building and Construction; Business Management; Healthcare; Transportation and Storage; Customer Service; Wholesale and Retail Trade; Personal Services
Republic Polytechnic	19	Information and Communications; Healthcare; Tourism, Travel and Tour; Agriculture and Fishing; Environmental Cleansing; Engineering; Food and Beverages; Human Resource Management, Employment and Recruitment; Manufacturing; Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology; Transportation and Storage; Wholesale and Retail Trade
Ngee Ann Polytechnic	16	Wholesale and Retail Trade; Community and Social Service

Singapore Polytechnic lives up to its name as the most established polytechnic, offering the most number of programmes (29). However, Ngee Ann Polytechnic stood out for offering 16 programmes in just 2 training areas: Wholesale and Retail Trade, and Community and Social Service. It chose to focus on what they’re strong in, and offered a range of programmes in those areas.

Also noteworthy is Lithan Academy. Tying at the 6th place with NTUC LearningHub offering 14 programmes entirely in the ICT area, it is a remarkable feat for a private training institution with no affiliation to trade associations.

We can also be confident that the top 5 areas of training under the SGUnited Skills (SGUS) programmes can prepare us for the time when Singapore recovers from the pandemic.

Parting Words

I started preparing for this post for fun. Whenever my research involved numbers, I have the tendency to find patterns, make comparisons and do more research to find out the story behind the information. 

We could see that the National University of Singapore chose to focus on quality by only delivering courses in only 4 training areas. The polytechnics are the backbone for Singapore’s talent pipeline, which is especially important in these difficult times. 

With data and projections from Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), we can also be confident that the top 5 areas of training under the SGUnited Skills (SGUS) programmes can prepare us for the time when Singapore recovers from the pandemic. 

If you’re inspired to take on some training, explore the MySkillsFuture portal by SkillsFuture Singapore to find out how you can unlock your employment potential. Check out OpenCerts too, which is another handy feature by the government to turbocharge your job search process.

Till then, stay curious!