STRAITS TIMES, Aug 24, 2006
SITNews: Australian universities woo ITE students
by Peh Shing Huei

NOT just A Levels and polytechnic diploma holders anymore.

Australian universities and other educational institutions are now widening their search for Singapore talent by reaching out to Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students too.

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng disclosed this in an interview with the media last week.

Speaking about the need to retain and attract talent, he said that ITE students started hopping on south-bound planes about a year ago.

'They (the Australians) are looking at people at the vocational skill level and they...are telling our ITE students, 'please come, no problem, join our polytechnic-type of colleges'.

'If they do well, they find a job there, we will lose that category of our talent, too,' he added.

Mr Wong said that while Australia was less welcoming of foreigners from the 1960s to the 1980s, the situation has changed.

The country is making it easier for Singapore polytechnic students to qualify for their universities and even Australian permanent residency.

ITE told The Straits Times that Australia's Tafe (Technical and Further Education) Colleges are where the students head for, using them as a stepping stone to gain entry into Australian universities.

But there are also the rare few who go straight to such places as the Queensland University of Technology and the Curtin University of Technlogy.

ITE chief executive officer Law Song Seng said: 'Although we do not have the figures, we do hear of our ITE graduates who go to Australia to further their studies or work.

'In a way, we are pleased as this reflects the relevance and responsiveness of ITE training in a global economy.'

But he stressed that ITE's focus 'is to meet the manpower needs of Singapore'.

As Mr Wong said: 'We need many of them, we need them to be here because we don't just need one CEO.

'All the way down...you need to have your directors and you need to have managers, you need to have supervisors, you need to have skilled technicians.'