OUT: Graduation ceremonies, degree scrolls IN: Just-in-time learning, skills certificates

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing will be remembered for his address to a class of university graduates last year where he told them that the grand ceremonies that universities hold for those completing their degrees are likely to become a relic of the past.

He also told the students that their degree scrolls, which indicate the specific degree they undertook and the date of completion, will also become outdated in the future.

Explaining his remarks to The Straits Times, he stressed that the rapid pace of change under way will push students to keep updating their knowledge and building new skills. Hence, once they enrol in an institution, they will never “graduate” just once, but will go on to have a lifelong relationship with their alma mater.

He said universities will offer more flexibility and grant their students unlimited credits, allowing them to take as many modules as they want throughout their lifetime.

Students can take up courses at any point of their working life, when they need to acquire new skills and knowledge. And they would study alongside students of all ages, using many modes, be they offline or online, on campus or at the workplace.

He added: “In the future, it will also be unthinkable that students would graduate with a Degree in Engineering or a Degree in Business. These subjects will not be taken in isolation. “

What will be of value will be relevant skills and knowledge to solve real problems rather than “artificial silos” of content.

In his wide-ranging interview on education and institutions of higher learning, which he kept referring to as “institutions of continuous learning” or ICLs, he spoke about what else will change in higher education.

Q Why use the term ICLs instead of IHLs?