where every potential is NUTURED & VALUED

TP exists because there is potential to be developed. Our business is to recognise people’s strengths, and provide opportunities and guidance so that they can develop these strengths into talents and skills that will carry them through to a thriving future. At TP, we turn potential into success.

Student Development

Central to all our activities is developing our students and ensuring that they get the best possible experience with us. When students leave TP, we want them to have received a well-rounded education that has not only prepared them well for industry, but instilled in them the character to rise to the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

sharing by INDUSTRY PARTNERS

One of the ways we ensure that our graduates are industry-ready is by facilitating learning from industry. Sharing sessions by industry practitioners is one way that this is regularly done. Final-year Apparel Design & Merchandising students, for example, were treated to an industry dialogue session called ‘Get Real with Fashion’ in September 2005. It gave them a platform to interact with well-known fashion players and accomplished alumni while getting updated on changing trends and current practices in the fashion industry.

gaining experience THROUGH ATTACHMENTS

More directly, TP students gain industry experience through work attachments. Our Student Internship Programme enables students to immerse themselves in the real working world even before they graduate. Besides providing them with practical work experience, this core component in all our course curricula helps to inculcate good ethics and professionalism within a real environment. In this review year, 3,793 students were sent on attachment, both locally and overseas.

real-life PROJECTS

Besides internships, our students learn from industry through working on real-life projects with them, with both parties gaining from the win-win arrangement. For example, in May 2005, TP’s Communications & Media Management students produced a series of programmes that were broadcast on MediaCorp Radio’s LUSH 99.5FM. The students reached out to young listeners of the station on a broad range of topics, from fashion to technology, and were commended by the station for their professionalism and high quality of work.

improving our curriculum through FEEDBACK

TP also actively seeks feedback to improve our curriculum and its delivery. In September 2005, the Temasek Design School initiated focus groups with their School Advisory Committee, made up of esteemed members of the design industry, to act as sounding boards for course reviews, market positioning and future branding.

beyond the academic - CHARACTER EDUCATION

Character education, so important to the holistic development of our students, has always been taken seriously at TP. We were in fact the first polytechnic to establish a Centre for Character Education (CCE) in 1996, believing that our graduates must be able to make a positive difference in the workplace and in their families. The CCE coordinates a core programme for all TP students, the Applied Principles for Effective Living (APEL), which aims to nurture their positive dispositions and lay the vital foundations for lifelong success. In August 2005, the CCE extended its training and consultancy in character education beyond Singapore. Two trainer consultants from TP were invited to the Philippines to train 43 participants in Cebu. They comprised principals, administrators and teachers from elementary and high schools, as well as the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF). The participants found the APEL programme and its approach useful, and subsequently acquired the training materials for their own use in teaching APEL.

Furthering our belief in the importance of character education, TP organised a Character Education Colloquium in August 2005 with the theme ‘Cultivating Humanity’. It provided a platform for 236 teachers and educationists, from Singapore and abroad, to network and discuss issues and challenges of cultivating good character. Participants also had the opportunity to learn how to make teaching of character education more interesting and engaging. A highlight of the Colloquium was the session with multi-award winning speaker and master trainer, Michael Podolinsky.

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