The internship opportunities offered as part of the National Infocomm Scholarship (NIS) are a key attraction for many students who have jumped at the chance of garnering industry experience as part of their degree programme.

The National Infocomm Scholarship was established by IDA in 2004 to help develop and secure top-notch infocomm talent for Singapore going into the future. On 4 August 2009, a new batch of 26 students received their scholarships from the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew, bringing the total number of NIS awards to 181 to date.

“You have been very carefully selected and you have the potential to become infocomm leaders of Singapore in the years to come,” Mr Lui told the award recipients, who will be studying at local and overseas institutions.  He also advised them to look beyond their books, sign up for practical courses and seek internships with their sponsor organisations while still at university.

In fact, several of the scholars interviewed by iN.SG had applied for the NIS for that very reason - because it is offered in partnership with the private sector, where private companies act as sponsors.

“I was looking for a scholarship and the NIS was one of the better choices, because it actually gives you the chance to work with private companies,” explained Mr Alvin Goh Ying Yi, whose scholarship is sponsored by Avaya. “My company is dealing with a technology called unified communications, so I hope to work on this field to deliver next generation communication solutions.” He will be taking up Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew and the 2009 scholarship recipients. On his right are Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Permanent Secretary, MICA, and RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, CEO, IDA. On his left are Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong, Parliamentary Secretary, MTI & MICA and Mr Lock Wai Han, Deputy Secretary, Industry & the Arts, MICA.

Like Mr Goh, Ms Tay Shi Hui, who will do a double degree in Business and Computing at NTU, applied for NIS because it offered her internship opportunities in her sponsoring company, Fujitsu. She is hoping to work either in the area of information systems or in networking upon graduation.

Another scholar, Ms Iswarya, who will be taking the infocomm security specialisation, said that her Computer Engineering course at NUS is “very much in line with what I decided to do”. “I’ve always had an interest in infocomm. I had already decided to specialise in infocomm security even before I got the scholarship, so getting the NIS was like hitting the jackpot,” she said. Ms Iswarya’s studies are being sponsored by IDA.

RADM(NS) Lui Tuck Yew and RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay chats with scholarship recipients.

On their part, the sponsoring companies continue to emphasise the importance of building up their talent pool despite the economic downturn.

“Whether it’s good times or bad, you still have to invest in people,” noted Ms Chan Ee Hwee, Senior Manager, Human Resource, with the Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT), which sponsored one local and one partial scholar.

Mr Robin James, Director, Information Technology, with Barclays Capital, agreed. “I think there’s a lot of value in investing in the talent pool and growing it,” he said. “We like to get involved with doing things locally, investing in the next generation of talent.”

His company is sending two scholars to the United States for three to four years, to study at Cornell and Stanford. “We want to send people to the best place. It might be expensive, but we focus less on the financial impact and more on the rewards. Barclays is definitely a global firm, and we hire a very diverse set of people. To let people experience another country, system and culture definitely widens their scope, and adds to the whole experience of university, and life.”