Andrew Cheng (AsiaPac Technology) and Seah Chin Siong (SIM)
M1 and wholly-owned subsidiary AsiaPac Technology has joined forces with the Singapore Institute of Management Group (SIM) to unveil a new Youth Academy Work-Study-Train program.
Specifically, the initiative is tailored for ICT polytechnic graduates looking to develop their skills in the technology sector while pursuing their undergraduate studies.
Successful candidates will pursue a part-time Computer Science and Information Systems-related degree with SIM’s University Partner, University of Wollongong (UoW), while working as a full-time employee of AsiaPac for a duration of 18 months.
Seah Chin Siong, president and CEO of SIM commended the synergy that the program brings by pairing UoW’s academic offering with AsiaPac’s "real-world applications" into a student’s work-learn journey, as well as “fulfilling a part of SIM’s raison d’etre, which is to empower individuals and organisations to thrive across life stages through learning".
“It is an excellent example of how academic institutions and businesses can come together to redefine lifelong learning,” added Seah.
“By giving diploma holders unique pathways to up-skill themselves amidst the ever-changing work environment, they would be able to continuously grow in their career. SIM will continue to focus on such industry related partnerships and programmes, to help both learners and organisations stay ahead in their industries.”
Bridging academic learning with on-the-job training, the program will feature AsiaPac’s capabilities in end-user computing, cloud infrastructure management support as well as network and security support. It also offers a personalised learning journey through the mentorship from AsiaPac’s pool of technical experts who will provide dedicated guidance to each student for their personal and career development.
Additionally, opportunities for technology product training and certifications from AsiaPac’s network of partners, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Huawei, Google Cloud, Cisco and VMWare, are available.
Manjot Singh Mann, CEO of M1, viewed the partnership as a significant stepping stone in M1’s enterprise strategy by developing tech talent and capturing opportunities in the ICT sector.
“As the only telco to be named as one of Singapore’s Best Employers by The Straits Times for the third year in a row, we will continue to actively expand our talent acquisition programme and create more developmental pathways to attract new tech talents that will value add to our company as we continue our digital transformation,” he added.
Andrew Cheng, managing director of AsiaPac Technology, also acknowledged the partnership as means of providing “career jumpstart opportunities for budding tech talents” through education to develop their ICT skills and practical work experience which will help students transition to the workplace upon graduating.
“It is our pleasure to contribute to the development of an agile workforce in our digital economy and also support our existing workforce to meet the demand and rapid growth of AsiaPac,” said Cheng.
