PROJECTIONS ON PROFESSIONAL, TECHNICAL AND SKILLED MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS

Encik Mansor Haji Sukaimi asked the Minister for Trade and Industry if his Ministry makes studies to project the types of professional and skilled jobs that are needed in 5 to 10 years' time and, if so, what are the findings of such studies, the numbers of jobs projected, the types of academic or professional qualifications required of the jobs and whether special efforts are being made to ensure that our educational and training institutions will be capable of meeting those needs.

The Minister for Trade and Industry (Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Council on Professional and Technical Education (CPTE), of which I am the Chairman, had made a comprehensive set of projections on the professional, technical and skilled manpower requirements of Singapore up to 1990. These projections were based on the targetted rates of economic growth laid out in our Ten-year Economic Development Plan. A summary of these projections appeared in the Annex to the 1981 Budget Statement, entitled "Highlights of the 10-Year Economic Development Plan".

The conclusion of the CPTE study was that the enrolment of our tertiary and training institutions would have to be increased substantially, particularly in engineering and technical courses. As a result of the study, the various tertiary and training institutions have significantly expanded their enrolment in recent years.

For the information of members, I will now circulate the latest enrolment projections (Cols. 1359 - 1374) of our various tertiary and training institutions up to 1990. As these take into account the CPTE projections, they provide some idea of the kind of jobs we expect to generate in the future. Relating it to the institutions will also give a better picture of the academic or professional qualifications needed. projections - PROJECTED ENROLMENTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS, 1982 - 1990, VOCATIONAL & INDUSTRIAL TRAINING BOARD PROJECTED ENROLMENT BY COURSE 1982 - 1990 (Cols. 1359 - 1374)

To meet the expanded training needs, it will be necessary to increase the number of qualified teaching staff and build more schools and institutions as well as expand the existing ones. The various institutions have been conducting intensive staff recruitment exercises on an on-going basis, both locally and overseas. Service conditions are constantly reviewed to ensure that they are kept competitive with comparable institutions overseas and comparable jobs found locally. Postgraduate scholarships at internationally renowned institutions are also being awarded to outstanding graduates to attract them to take up university teaching as a career. The Ministry of Finance has been generous in its allocations of funds to support the building expansion programme of the institutions. Teachers in schools have put in a special effort to ensure that sufficient numbers of suitably qualified pupils are produced each year to take up places in the tertiary and other training institutions.

Encik Mansor Haji Sukaimi: Mr Speaker, Sir, I do not have time to go through the data. Could the Minister say whether these projections would take into account the jobs available because the correlation is important in order to avoid the problems of over-training or under-training.

Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam: Mr Speaker, Sir, in making these projections, it would be senseless not to take into account the number of jobs available.