Skills mismatch is a worldwide problem, but can be fixed: President

Countries need reform in tertiary education and in skills development systems, he says

- Ovais Subhani

More internships and use of technology can bridge the gap between what people are trained for and what is in demand in the market, said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

"The massive mismatch of skills - it's not just a developing country problem. It's a problem in the United States, in the UK, everywhere," said Mr Tharman in a fireside chat, held after the inaugural meeting of the High-level Advisory Council on Jobs on Oct 23 at the World Bank building in Washington, DC.

However, Mr Tharman, who is co-chairperson of the council with former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, said the skills mismatch is a problem that can be fixed with the right policy initiatives.

"We have to close the gap between employers and educational institutions by increasing internships, increasing what's called the dual education mode, where people study and work at the same time." He said technology can also help in getting a lot more granular information on what employers need and then feeding it into training institutions' curricula.

"Essentially, we need fairly wholesale reform in tertiary education and in skills development systems around the world to tackle this mismatch of skills." The need to reform the pre-university and university curriculum and upgrade workforce skills was recognised by Singapore a while ago.

The country has been taking steps to create a more variegated tertiary education landscape across its colleges, universities and polytechnics in the past several years. Additionally, the Republic has launched several initiatives to strengthen the relevance of skills training for the existing workforce.

The High-level Advisory Council on Jobs is a World Bank initiative aimed at identifying actionable policies and programmes to address the looming jobs crisis in the developing world.