The Singapore Enigma

The Singapore Enigma

• Singapore today remains one of the world’s most successful economies, the World Economic Forum ranking Singapore as Asia’s most competitive economy and second globally behind Switzerland. Furthermore, the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) is responsible for funding a number of training programmes. The infrastructure is in place.
• Many findings from this survey point to the danger of not meeting expectations of the Singapore learning community from the angle of “promise making” in training and development terms and the actual delivery.
• Learner initiative is growing in Singapore (one of the highest along with China) indicating a possible growing gap between the Learning Professionals and Learner community itself.
• The fact that much of the funding initiatives provided in terms of skills deployment are not being fully explored, indicates a wider organisational lack of alignment towards skills development, and this is true of Small / Medium enterprise in Singapore especially. As a result Learners are taking the initiative themselves, but this is informal, unmeasured and externalised.
• Few Singapore employees receive blended learning; training by smart phone and tablets is limited; and online learning has not been fully embraced.  According to Carsten Rosenkranz, director of business development at e-learning service provider Knowledge Platform, “only about 20% of the 500-plus companies registered on the Singapore Stock Exchange are using e-learning in an “effective or advanced way”.
• A growing evidence of the need to focus on training and development delivery and perhaps a need for a change in Learning and Development approach in Singapore.