MOU signed with five Singapore polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education to collaborate on fintech education aims to nurture talent through an industry-based applied learning programme.
PayPal, one of the earliest brand names in the digital economy, on Friday announced the launch of its fintech program, through which it hopes to nurture the next generation of tech talent in Singapore.
As part of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between PayPal and Singapore's five polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), PayPal will offer its industry expertise to the institutions to equip 1,700 students enrolled in their Information and Communications Technology (ICT) courses with industry-relevant skills and knowledge over the next three years.
Right Skills
«As the fintech industry becomes increasingly ubiquitous in the global economy, we have a responsibility to enhance economic opportunity in these areas, especially here in Singapore… the goal of the program is to build the capabilities of the workforce by equipping students with the right skills to drive change in our industry,» PayPal Singapore CEO David Stock explained.
As part of the fintech program, PayPal will work with the institutions to enhance their ICT curriculum by integrating proprietary materials and case studies into four modules that provide students with a foundation in e-payments: Payments 101, PayPal Solutions, API Integration, and Testing in PayPal Sandbox. The firm is working with each institution individually and hopes to launch them by the end of the year.
More Opportunities for Students
Jerry Tso, head of PayPal's Singapore Development Center
«The idea for this initiative came about because one of the frustrations our education partners often expressed was the lack of knowledge about the payment industry and fintech among students, which was a barrier that often came up in their projects,» Jerry Tso (pictured above), head of the PayPal Singapore Development Center and the program's lead, said in an interview with finews.asia.
«We partner with these schools very closely and work with faculty members to come up with the right material and content for their students, then train the faculty members to teach this material to their students,» Tso added.
Real-World Experience
As they go through this program, the students will also be able to get real-world experience in this field by taking up an internship at PayPal as part of their course requirements, during which they will work with its SME partners on a real-world business case.
According to Tso, knowledge about risk management, payment security and the ability to crunch data are very much in demand in the e-payments space.
Helpful for the Industry
«Students having such skillsets will be tremendously helpful for the industry, which is why we've incorporated these elements into the program,» he said.
