News Releases
SAF and NYP Establish Strategic Partnership in Education
4 May 2012
Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Warrant Officers, Specialists and Military Domain Experts can now look forward to more opportunities to continue their education and attain a formal diploma qualification due to a collaboration between the SAF and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).
Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Warrant Officers, Specialists and Military Domain Experts can now look forward to more opportunities to continue their education and attain a formal diploma qualification due to a collaboration between the SAF and Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP). The collaboration was formalised with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Partnership in Education between Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant-General (LG) Neo Kian Hong and Principal & CEO of NYP, Mr Chan Lee Mun at NYP this afternoon.
The ten-year MOU is built on the strong and multi-faceted partnership between the SAF and NYP since 1995 and comprises two main areas of collaboration. The first is the development of bridging certificate programmes which enables SAF personnel with 'O' Levels or National Institute of Technical Education Certificate (NITEC) to attain a formal diploma qualification through customised NYP diploma programmes. The second area of collaboration allows servicemen to accumulate credits from SAF courses, which are recognised for academic courses at NYP. This will provide more academic upgrading opportunities to meet the servicemen's aspiration to continue their education.
In his address prior to the signing ceremony, LG Neo highlighted that the 3rd Generation SAF is a full-spectrum force with advanced conventional capabilities and SAF servicemen have to be well trained to maximise the effectiveness of SAF's advanced technologies. He said: "Our people will also have to be well educated with the knowledge, the mental agility and adaptability to work in different operating environment and contexts. Our partnership with education institutions will enable us to tap their academic expertise. The signing of the MOU to establish such a partnership with NYP marks yet another significant milestone in our education efforts." The SAF Sergeant-Major, Senior Warrant Officer Joseph Koa, who was present during the ceremony, was grateful that the SAF pays special attention to the aspirations of its servicemen to further their academic education. He said: "I am thankful that the SAF has given me the opportunity to further my education. I joined the SAF with an 'O'Levels certificate back in 1976 and now possess a Diploma which I obtained in 1999 from NYP thanks to the education partnership between the SAF and NYP which started in 1995."
Since 1995, NYP has conducted 41 different professional military and continuing education courses over a total of 250 times for close to 7,800 SAF servicemen, leading to various professional certifications and diploma qualifications. Citing NYP's commitment to this partnership, Mr Chan commented, "Over the last 17 years, NYP and SAF have enjoyed a strong partnership. This MOU strengthens our commitment towards continuing education. It is aligned to a key pillar in what NYP does - to provide Continuing Education & Training or CET for working adults. We are pleased to partner the SAF on this new initiative to provide its servicemen with relevant programmes to upgrade, re-skill and enhance their expertise so that they can continue to contribute to the SAF's development and progress."
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