50 Years of Technical Education in Singapore

How to Build a World Class TVET System

This book describes in vivid detail how a newly independent nation with neither a history of technical education nor industry, developed in a short period of time a world-class system of technical and vocational education that helped it make rapid progress in its manufacturing and industrial sector. The economy and the education sector both developed in parallel, with each complementing the other, utilizing strategies and making the decisions that were to bring the country quickly to advanced status.

Studies show that premature investment in higher education at the expense of technical and vocational education has created many leaders but few doers, leading to high unemployment. The Singapore Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) story demonstrates how governmental support helped changed the image of technical and vocational education to one equal with higher education, yet including bridges and ladders to allow everyone to maximize their potential.

Contents:

• The Colonial Legacy
• The Adrenalin of Independence
• Vocational Training Takes Off
• The Role of the Economic Development Board in Technical Education
• Polytechnics Come of Age
• The Transformation of TVET
• The Labour Movement and Worker Upgrading
• Connecting TVET with Higher Education
• Preparing for a Skills-Based Future
• Key Lessons for Policy-Makers

Readership: Professional researchers, government officials, as well as the general public.
Key Features:

• The book is important in helping policy-makers in emerging and developed economies to understand the link between economic strategy and human development
• Covered herein are both vocational as well as technical education, and it includes technical and non-technical services
• A very useful aid to education policy-makers as well as educationists everywhere round the world