Temasek Polytechnic and IBM Collaborate for Smarter Education with an IT Service Management Centre
The ITSM Centre will see 60 students, from the Diploma in Mobile & Network Services, groomed as techno-strategists graduate in 2012
Singapore, 5 January 2011 – Temasek Polytechnic (TP) and IBM Singapore today announced the launch of an IT Service Management (ITSM) programme which includes curriculum development and the establishment of an ITSM Centre, all of which will be carried out under the mentorship of IBM’s business and industry subject matter experts.
A 21st century services-and-knowledge-based economy has altered the education landscape, and it requires different skills and ways of learning. And as the world becomes more instrumented, interconnected and intelligent, businesses today are looking to hire the next generation of IT professionals who possess not only deep technical understanding, and broad business skills, but are also equipped with value-add capabilities to contribute immediately upon employment.
Located at TP, the ITSM Centre functions as a real-time learning enterprise that provides students with a holistic environment in which theory is put into practice as they focus on managing IT Systems, providing IT solutions to clients, monitoring service performance levels and adopting best practices that meet industry standards – thereby also realising TP’s vision of bringing education to life, and life to education. The programme aims to nurture graduates who are IT savvy and place priority on resolving computer and network challenges expediently and efficiently for clients, ensuring a high quality of service.
In a world that focuses on efficiency and productivity, a quality service mindset adds value to an organisation. Providers of IT services are increasingly challenged to consider the quality of the services they provide when helping customers who need to rapidly adapt to changing conditions in the marketplace by creating and deploying new services quickly and efficiently. Professionals with the skills to troubleshoot and manage IT Services efficiently are therefore in great demand. However, this kind of service excellence can only be achieved through effective and efficient service management. It is this recognition of the growing importance of ITSM and its significance in the global economy that has led to the collaboration between TP and IBM.
Teresa Lim, Managing Director of IBM Singapore, said: “This academic collaboration presents an innovative opportunity to impart ITSM knowledge to students by going beyond the classroom and giving them the advantage of being able to execute and manage IT projects in a real life environment, under the tutelage of our IBM experts. We are confident that this will enhance their employability in the IT services industry.”
Boo Kheng Hua, Principal and CEO of Temasek Polytechnic, shared, “Our goal in the ITSM Programme is to nurture students who have the relevant skills to develop a service-oriented approach to process improvements that will bring about greater IT efficiency, service quality and productivity in businesses and organisations. We believe that our students from the Diploma in Mobile & Network Services will benefit greatly from learning the methods involved in IT Service Management and will in turn be ready to add value to the organisations they join.”
The ITSM Centre is based on the IBM IT Services Framework which includes IBM’s portfolio of products and practices to provide an integrated hands-on training on IT service management. The live centre, with IBM IT service professionals on-site, will provide students from TP’s School of Informatics & IT with practical experience on the industry’s leading-edge service management solutions.
In addition, selected students will get a testimonial from IBM and opportunities to work with IBM’s services professionals on client projects locally and overseas. The objective of the training is to equip students with a solid foundation in various aspects of IT services, including ITIL processes, system management, system monitoring and service architecture and governance. IBM will also sponsor students for the IT Infrastructure Library Certification and engage students and staff for attachment to IBM.
In today’s globalised world where mature economies are largely services oriented, Singapore needs to power its services sector to sharpen its competitive edge. The country needs to ensure a pool of highly diverse workforce capable of collaborative innovation. It was with this in mind that led to IBM’s earlier collaboration with the Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to establish a Service Science, Management & Engineering (SSME) programme to nurture T-shaped professionals who have a deep proficiency in one area, and a breadth of multi-disciplinary skills that will enable them to collaborate productively and fuel the growth of our services sector.
The goal of producing graduates who possess strong competencies in the holistic management of IT services across multiple industries is also aligned to IDA’s iN2015 Masterplan in which techno-strategists who have both the technical and business expertise will be groomed to achieve business and organisational goals through the strategic and innovative use of infocomm.
“SSME equips our next generation of professionals with the skills and competencies that will enable them to innovate and systemise service offerings – giving Singapore the competitive edge to enable scale and sustainable growth. IBM is pleased to be collaborating with Temasek Polytechnic to groom students who can contribute to the SSME programme,” said Teresa Lim, Managing Director, IBM Singapore.
Nearly 400 staff and students will be trained over the next five years by the centre, and the pioneer batch of students from the Diploma in Mobile & Network Services with the acquired IT service management skills is due to graduate in March 2012.
IBM is the world’s largest IT Services firm and has been collaborating with over 50 universities across the globe on IT Service Management. In the U.S., Missouri State University offers a Bachelor of Science (BS) in IT Service Management. In Australia, the University of Ballarat’s School of Information Technology & Mathematical Sciences, with support from the Victorian State Government, collaborate with IBM on various fields of IT service management.
This collaboration between TP and IBM leverages IBM’s Global Academic Initiative, a programme that offers more than 100 technologies for teaching staff to build course curriculums. Under this programme, IBM works with universities that support open standards to use open source and IBM technologies for teaching purposes, both directly and virtually via the Web. To learn more about IBM Academic Initiative, visit http://www.ibm.com/university.
About Temasek Polytechnic
Temasek Polytechnic (TP) is a significant contributor to the field of para-professional education in Singapore. TP currently offers 52 full-time diploma courses in the areas of applied science, business, design, engineering, humanities and social sciences and informatics & IT. It also offers over 40 part-time courses, up to the advanced diploma level. TP students undergo a holistic learning system that combines hands-on experience, character education and relevant life skills, in an enriching learning environment. The Polytechnic has also infused global realities into its programmes and developed a mindset on campus that embraces socio-cultural diversity. These approaches ensure that TP graduates are economy relevant, future relevant and life relevant. www.tp.edu.sg
About IBM
For more information on IBM, please visit http://www.ibm.com/sg
Press Contacts
Antonia Ong (Ms)
Brand and Communications Manager
IBM Singapore
+65 6418 1910 (DID)
+65 9875 2708 (MOBILE)
Vimala Christie
Senior Corporate Communications Officer
Temasek Polytechnic
+65 6780 5019 (DID)
+65 97900319 (MOBILE)
Factsheet
What is IT Service Management?
IT Service Management (ITSM) is an approach to managing the IT operations of an organisation that emphasises the quality of IT services provided, places a focus on customers’ needs, sets out service level agreements and focuses on the best processes for handling day-to-day activities in an IT department.
All major IT companies in the world (IBM, HP, Microsoft, Oracle, etc.) and major commercial organisations including global banks use the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) methodology to manage IT services in an organisation. ITIL comprises of a proven set of processes to ensure that the day-to-day operations in an organisation run smoothly.
Diploma in Mobile & Network Services
The Diploma in Mobile & Network Services (MNS) was launched in April 2010 offering two options: (a) Mobile Solutions and (b) IT Service Management. In this course, students acquire computer network infrastructure competencies and those majoring in ITSM would learn about the concept, processes and functions of the ITIL/ITSM framework.
At the ITSM Centre they acquire hands-on training, on ITIL/ITSM methodologies and best practices from IBM. Graduates who have specialised in ITSM would be in demand at Data Centres, Network Infrastructure departments in banks, Internet Service Providers, and in military, government, public and private sector companies and organisations which are seeking to improve how IT services are managed to ensure efficiency.