The transcript will list 18 industry-relevant skills that students hone during their course of study. ST PHOTO KUA CHEE SIONG
SINGAPORE - From 2025, all students from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) will be awarded a transcript of skills, alongside their academic transcripts, when they graduate.
In a move to go beyond academic grades, the transcript – known as Record of Transferable Skills (RTS) – will document students’ mastery of 18 transferable skills such as problem-solving, creative thinking and adaptability.
Drawn from the SkillsFuture list of critical core skills, the 18 skills are also aligned with the World Economic Forum’s top 10 in-demand skills from its Future of Jobs 2023 report.
For a start, in October 2024, the transcript will be awarded to SIT graduates from two programmes – digital communications and integrated media, and nursing. From 2025, it will be awarded to all graduating students.
The transcript will categorise the skills according to the student’s level of mastery – emerging, proficient and highly proficient.
In 2023, the Singapore Management University had similarly announced that it would award transcripts of co-curricular activities and skills learnt to graduates from 2025. The aim is to deepen and document students’ learning outside the classroom.
Speaking at SIT’s convocation ceremony on Oct 16 at Mediacorp, SIT president Chua Kee Chaing noted that the transcript is a key step in recognising its students’ broader capabilities beyond academic qualifications.
He added that it provides prospective employers useful insights into a graduate’s proficiency in skills such as critical thinking, communication, teamwork and digital competency, which students hone through both curricular and extra-curricular activities.
“With the RTS transcript, our graduates can now present a fuller picture of their capabilities at job interviews and make better decisions about which roles suit them better,” said Professor Chua.
The students’ skills are assessed by SIT staff in charge of academic modules and extra-curricular programmes.
Ms April Leong, 24, is among the first batch of graduates from SIT’s digital communications and integrated media degree programme to receive the transcript.
Having already secured employment with the public relations agency where she did her internship, she said the transcript was a good reference when she was preparing her resume.
“I still had to go through the interview process. So I did refer to the skills in the transcript which guided me in the areas I wanted to highlight to the human resource department and employers,” said Ms Leong.
She said that students are introduced to the 18 skills when they enrol in the university. They get to see what kinds of skills they are projected to learn and develop throughout the three or four years in their course of study.
“I got to focus on a few skills, such as communication, problem-solving and digital fluency,” she said.
“There were some areas that I was already aware of, but the transcript provided a more detailed overview of the skills I possess.”
In 2024, more than 2,800 SIT graduates from about 50 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes will receive their degrees.
SIT will also be graduating its pioneer cohorts from six programmes, one of which is in speech and language therapy, Singapore’s first undergraduate degree programme in this field.
So far, about 96 per cent of graduates from the programme have secured employment and begun working.
Ms Nurul Diyanah Damanhuri, 23, who is one of the speech and language therapy graduates, said existing speech therapists in Singapore would have graduated from universities overseas.
Ms Nurul Diyanah Damanhuri graduates as part of the pioneer cohort of SIT’s Speech and Language Therapy programme. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
She will begin work as a speech therapist at Singapore General Hospital in late October.
“The advantage we have pursuing our degree in Singapore is that the curriculum is tailored to our community,” she said.
For example, it takes into account the diversity of local languages here and how people converse.
“So we get to learn how to apply that knowledge in the context of our community and what our patients want.”
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