SG must focus on older workers to close inter-generational skills gap: OECD adviser

As a victim of its own success, Singapore must address its growing inter-generational skills gap by focusing more on older workers, said Mr Andreas Schleicher, the director for education and skills at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). According to OECD data, Singapore is currently the country with the largest inter-generational skills gap, said Mr Schleicher during a panel discussion on "The evolving role of universities" at The Straits Times Education Forum 2022, held in partnership with SMU. "Universities basically need to pay a lot more attention to those who have already graduated - that is the only kind of pool that is still untapped," said Mr Schleicher. Acknowledging the changing role of universities, SMU President Professor Lily Kong said, "Universities are used to working with young people... but as we begin to work with adult learners, one of the things that we realised is that the traditional approach (of teaching) is just not going to work. Hence, SMU has been exploring different teaching methods like co-creating and co-delivering content and skills with industry partners like KPMG and Google, she added.

Berita Harian