Message from Mr Raymond Lim, Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs
I CONGRATULATE the Singapore Maritime Academy (SMA) on its 50th anniversary.
Over the years, Singapore has developed into a global hub port and a leading International Maritime Centre. SMA has played an important role in our success by providing quality maritime education and training over the last 50 years. Today, The SMA counts among its alumni many eminent personalities in Singapore's maritime sector. The numerous awards that the SMA has received, including five consecutive Lloyd's List Maritime Asia Awards, are also testament to the rigour, quality and relevance of the SMA's programmes.
For Singapore to retain its position as one of the world's leading maritime centres, we must continue to develop our human capital and attract talent to the maritime industry. The SMA will, therefore, have to find innovative and effective ways to reach out to young Singaporeans to consider a maritime career and to enrol in its programmes.
The SMA's close partnership with the industry ensures that its graduates are equipped with the skills needed by the industry to meet real-world challenges. Its syllabus incorporates latest technologies and trends so that its graduates are ready for the future. As a valued member of the MaritimeONE programme, the SMA works with government and industry to promote maritime careers.
On this occasion, I commend the SMA for its valuable contributions over the past 50 years. I wish the SMA continued success in the years to come, as we grow in our partnership to develop Singapore's capabilities as an International Maritime Centre.
MARITIME education has come a long way since Singapore started training deck cadets 50 years ago at the polytechnic.
Today, the Singapore Maritime Academy (SMA) of Singapore Polytechnic (SP) is an internationally recognised premier institution for maritime education and training.
The academy got to the forefront of maritime education by constantly developing new teaching strategies to meet the learning needs of the future. It stayed relevant by meeting the industry's changing demands for manpower.
While producing seagoing officers who can operate ships in a competent and safe manner has always been its primary task, the SMA realised that its graduates would need more than the certificates of competency it awards in the new world of technology and skills.
The maritime world is much more than jobs at sea. Just about every officer will one day seek a shore job - and there are plenty of well-paying jobs on land for experienced ship masters and engineers. "If we don't offer our seagoing graduates further training, we are going to lose a lot of talent for the industry," The SMA director Roland Tan told BT in an interview to mark the academy's 50th anniversary.
"We need to be pro-active and equip them with the skills and training required for management-level positions in the new, booming maritime industry."
The academy, he says, makes extensive use of information technology and interactive multimedia instruction, with its research and development centre regularly developing Web-based emulators and electronic performance support systems.
It also has one of the most sophisticated simulator centres - a major investment by the government through the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The school's full-mission engine room and ship-handling simulators are among the world's best.
And now, a pioneering maritime satellite communications centre is being set up.
The realisation to change tack came with the growing desire of polytechnic graduates to pursue degree courses at university.
"Our surveys on students' aspirations as fresh diploma graduates have shown that up to 70 per cent of them now want to eventually graduate with a degree, and we have found from our tracer surveys that such aspirations are met within five years of their leaving us," said Mr Tan.
The SMA's collaboration with several institutions of higher-learning - in the past two years especially - signalled its desire to stay current with industry requirements.
One of its first tie-ups with a university - so its trainees could fulfil their dream of earning a bachelor degree - was in 2006 when it joined forces with the Netherlands maritime institute Willem Barentsz for a programme to award the Bachelor of Maritime Operations degree.
SMA diploma holders in nautical studies or marine engineering and with a certificate of competency studied an additional 18 months in this programme, including three months at Willem Barentsz and three months at SMA, plus projects over six months on board ships.
Critical areas of shipboard operations such as maritime safety and law, crisis management, the human element in shipping, and maritime economics are covered in the degree programme.
"This way we have stayed relevant to the needs of both our students and industry, responding to the needs of a globalised economy," said Mr Tan.
It's not just sound technical knowledge that the SMA instills in its students. It has gone a step further by introducing more programmes that help them acquire the necessary "soft skills and exposure to develop a world view", he says. Notable among these is a special arrangement with popular cruise operator Star Cruises to allow groups of SMA students to go on "experiential learning camps" on board its cruise ships.
"The SMA has to stay on course with innovative changes," Mr Tan said. "Industrial requirements for training can change rapidly due to market adjustments. That's why we have to be vigilant and flexible enough to put together new courses as the demand arises.
"One example of the SMA introducing a new course in response to industry needs is in LNG transport. "We are working towards developing a niche training segment for the LNG transport industry," Mr Tan said. "We will have to continue to attract brighter students into our new courses so we can feed the booming and strategic maritime industry with the higher level manpower they badly need. The SMA will continue to offer them the training they require for better job prospects."
