PRESS RELEASE
09 September 2021, Singapore – ICDL Asia pledged to upskill 100,000 candidates in Singapore with digital certification in the next 3 years at its annual regional event, ICDL Asia Digital Literacy Day 2021.
Themed “Building a Competitive Workforce for Industry 4.0”, the ICDL Asia Digital Literacy Day was held virtually for the first time this year on 9 September 2021. Minister of State, Ministry of Education Singapore, Ms. Gan Siow Huang graced our event as guest-of-honour and was joined by Ambassador Patrick Bourne of the Embassy of Ireland, Singapore, among all our distinguished guests.
ICDL Asia’s Pledge to Upskill 100,000 Candidates
As part of our commitment to build a competitive workforce, ICDL Asia pledged to upskill 100,000 candidates in Singapore with digital certification by 2024. Over the next 3 years, we aim to:
- Upskill 80,000 adult learners in Singapore
- Upskill 10,000 learners of Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) in Singapore
- Upskill 10,000 learners of Secondary Schools in Singapore
- Increase the number of IHLs and Secondary Schools which join ICDL’s network as an Accredited Test Centre
- Launch new, industry-relevant programmes
ICDL Asia has been at the forefront of digital literacy and skills development. Our certification programmes, delivered through an active network in more than 100 countries, enable individuals and organisations to assess, build and certify their competence in the use of computers and digital tools to the globally recognized ICDL standard. As a non-profit social enterprise, we benefit from the unique support of experts from national computer societies and partners worldwide to develop vendor-independent standards which define the skills and knowledge required to use digital technology effectively.
In Singapore, we have worked closely with SkillsFuture Singapore and our network of accredited test centres to roll out a myriad of programmes, including a number of certification programmes that are among the top 10 digital courses taken by enterprises.
ICDL Asia pledged to upskill 80,000 adult learners in Singapore to boost their digital capabilities at work by 2024. As part of our ongoing innovation in certification programme development, we also pledged our commitment to launch more industry-relevant programmes to build and equip a more resilient and agile workforce in Singapore.
For many years, ICDL Asia has focused our efforts and outreach mainly to reskill and upskill the Singapore workforce; helping adult learners to grow their digital competencies. But in the last two years, we see an increasing demand to equip students with digital and industry-relevant skills to boost their employability. This has motivated us to work closely with IHLs in Singapore such as Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Temasek Polytechnic, and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). Most recently, we have worked with industry partners such as the Singapore Academy of Law to launch a joint ICDL Professional Legal certification programme with the pioneer batch of students from Temasek Polytechnic’s Diploma in Law & Management. We pledged to work with more local universities and polytechnics in Singapore and upskill 10,000 learners of IHLs with digital certification in Singapore.
In the secondary school sector, we have also increased our efforts to promote digital literacy among students. ICDL Asia is working closely with academic institutions and public agencies to make ICDL programmes accessible to all students in Singapore. ICDL modules can integrate seamlessly into local schools’ ICT programmes and be offered as part of their online home-based learning solutions. With this initiative, we enable more students to take greater ownership of their learning and pick up essential digital skills. We will also be launching ICDL Digital Student, a new programme tailored to the needs of students and teachers and mapped to international qualification frameworks. Schools can embed the ICDL Digital Student programme within their school curriculum which offers greater integration and flexibility to students and teachers. The recent ICDL Asia Digital Challenge, a digital skills competition for Secondary and Tertiary students, is part of our school outreach programmes in Singapore. We are motivated to work with more secondary schools in Singapore and pledged to upskill 10,000 secondary school students with digital skills certification in Singapore.
We urge all students, educators, school partners, and industry leaders of the public and private sector to join us and pledge their commitment to the continuous development of digital skills of their students and employees. The support from all stakeholders will accelerate the growth and transformation of Asia’s digital economy.
ICDL Asia Digital Literacy Day
In its 5th iteration this year, the Digital Literacy Day promotes the importance of digital literacy and serves as an important platform for academic leaders and industry partners to come together to share best practices of digital skills learning in Asia.
The event comprised three key sessions: the ICDL Global Updates by the CEO of ICDL Foundation, Mr. Damien O’Sullivan, the ICDL Asia Digital Challenge Awards Presentation, and the Best Practices Sharing Session led by 3 speakers from Dell Technologies, Temasek Polytechnic and Methodist College Kuala Lumpur who shared insights on the digital landscape and implementation of ICDL programmes in their respective territories. We are supported by Siemens Digital Industries Software and Alibaba Cloud as our key sponsors in this year’s event.
Ambassador of Ireland Patrick Bourne told participants he was delighted to support the event and the ambitious objectives outlined by ICDL.
Ambassador Bourne said ‘The Covid pandemic has greatly accelerated the pace at which industry, education and everyday life is becoming more digitised and moving more online. With every day that passes, digital literacy and skills are becoming ever more important and essential. I am very proud that an Irish organisation is rolling out such an ambitious programme to promote digital literacy and skills in Singapore and the wider Asia region.’
Over 200 attendees joined our event this year, including industry experts, civil servants, academic leaders and training providers from Australia, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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For media queries, please contact:
Justin Seow Wensheng
Head of Business Development, ICDL Asia
Email: justin.seow@icdlasia.org
Wenlin Na
Marketing & Product Executive, ICDL Asia
Email: wenlin.na@icdlasia.org
About ICDL Asia
ICDL Asia is an international organisation dedicated to raising digital competence standards in the workforce, education and society. Our certification programmes, delivered through an active network in more than 100 countries, enable individuals and organisations to assess, build and certify their competence in the use of computers and digital tools to the globally recognized ICDL standard.
As a non-profit social enterprise, ICDL Foundation benefits from the unique support of experts from national computer societies and partners worldwide to develop vendor-independent standards which define the skills and knowledge required to use digital technology effectively. We work with education and training partners, local and regional authorities, national governments, international development organisations as well as public and private sector employers in all sectors, in the delivery of our programmes.
The quality and reputation of ICDL is built on almost twenty years of experience in delivering our certification programmes to over 15 million people and in more than 41 languages worldwide, with more than 2.5 million ICDL tests taken annually. Our success is maintained by our ongoing innovation in certification programme development, our commitment to rigorous test design methodologies, and consistent adherence to our quality assurance standards.
ICDL Foundation supports the initiatives of National Operators of the programme in Europe and the Arab States from our headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and our European office in Brussels, Belgium. We have also established three regional operations – ICDL Africa (based in Rwanda), ICDL Asia (based in Singapore) and ICDL Americas (based in Panama). All ICDL Foundation operations work closely with regional, national and local partners to develop the global network of ICDL Accredited Test Centres.
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