14 June 2019

Training provider Kaplan Professional has been barred from conducting Singapore Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) courses for 12 months.

This is Kaplan Professional’s second suspension since last December, after further audit checks uncovered serious lapses in which trainers from Kaplan were found to have flouted SSG’s guidelines on assessment practices.

SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) said Kaplan Professional’s accreditation as an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) will also be revoked, and that funding from SSG will also cease for all their WSQ courses for the same period, which start from July 1.

SSG said Kaplan Professional should continue teaching participants who are enrolled in WSQ courses that will be completed by June 30, and Kaplan will also be required to place participants who are enrolled in courses scheduled to begin after June 30 with other WSQ-approved training organisations.

13 June 2019

The Singapore Institute of Management will be offering a new degree in Geographic Information Science through its partnership with the University at Buffalo, which is part of the State University of New York.

Those trained in the field will be able to take up jobs in urban development and planning. They will possess skill sets such as deciding where schools are located, and where bus routes and MRT lines run.

Graduates can also become cartographers, climatologists, ecologists, as well as environmental scientists and managers.

The degree programme can be completed in three years. The curriculum will focus on the theoretical foundations of geographical information science, the development and use of state-of-the-art software and emerging technology, and the collection, processing and interpretation of geospatial information.

Graduates will be equipped with skills to identify patterns based on geospatial phenomena, which include human activities and their environmental impact.

12 June 2019

Ms Melia Ho is a second-year student at Temasek Polytechnic’s Applied Food Science and Nutrition diploma course, and also works as an intern at A*STAR’s Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences.

Her time in Temasek Polytechnic has exposed her to a number of different areas, from microbiology to food chemistry, broadening her knowledge of the subject.

As its co-founder, Melia also manages online vegan bakery, Delia.v Patisserie, which places emphasis on using natural ingredients like olive oil, unrefined sugar and fresh fruits, as well as catering for the needs of diabetic and gluten-sensitive customers.

Ms Ho secondary school life was spent poring over healthy recipes, watching YouTube cooking tutorials, and improving the nutritional contents of traditional recipes through trial and error.

“I really enjoyed seeing how different ingredients react with one another,” she says.

When these earned her a substantial following on Instagram, Ms Ho began using her account as her food photography portfolio, kick-starting her career as a freelance food photographer, and inspiring her to start Delia.v Patisserie with her sister.

Ms Ho received the Promising Young Entrepreneur Award from Temasek Polytechnic last year, and netted herself a place in the school’s Student Leadership Programme.

08 June 2019

Two Singaporean students are among over 350 students all over the world who have won scholarships from Apple Inc. to attend the company’s conference this year.

Each scholarship includes accommodation, a ticket to the event itself and a year-long membership in Apple’s developer programme. Applicants had to submit an application they created using Apple’s Swift Playground programming tool.

At the week-long conference, scholarship winners will get to interact with software developers from around the world and attend development sessions hosted by Apple engineers.

One of the winners of the scholarship is Singapore Polytechnic student Dalton Ng, who turns 18 this year. Dalton, who has won the scholarship two years in a row, hopes to gain new inspiration for the new apps he has developed, one of which translates sign language.

Apple has launched several education initiatives around the world. Besides running programmes on teaching students and adults to code, it offers guidance and resources to school teachers.

04 June 2019

Ms Leong Li Zi was pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics and Psychology from the University of Western Australia when she ran out of funds to complete her honours year.

Thus, she decided to return to Singapore to work in 2014 after only getting a basic pass degree. However, as she searched for employment opportunities as a research assistant, she found that the minimum qualifications required were an honours degree or graduate diploma in psychology — the very qualification she hoped to return to university to earn.

Subsequently, Ms Leong learnt that she could further her studies at the Singapore campus of James Cook University, commencing her studies from year three onwards and also enjoying a transfer of study credits from her UWA degree.

In 2016, Ms Leong enrolled into JCU’s Bachelor of Psychological Science programme before progressing to Graduate Diploma of Psychology.

During her study, she volunteered to be a research assistant position under Dr Bridget McConnell, who was conducting meta-analysis for her research on animal-assisted medical interventions at the time.

“My time with Dr Bridget and the other staff really helped me not just with my research, but it also taught me about life as a researcher and helped me clarify my plans after graduation,” says Ms Leong.