2021 marks NTU’s 30^th anniversary and as early as the year before, the university has started implementing initiatives that would augment and enrich our graduates’ expertise in the marketplace after they pass through our portal. The NTU2025 Strategy, announced in January 2021, specifically addressed issues on (1) mitigating our impact on the environment; (2) harnessing the science, art, and technology of learning; (3) addressing technology’s impact on humanity; and (4) responding to the needs and challenges of healthy living and ageing. An ongoing review of our curriculum - at the undergraduate, graduate, and Continuing Education and Training (CET) levels - took into consideration the crucial need to adapt to a fast-changing world. Responding to the nation’s call to broaden the skill sets of graduates to increase job opportunities in different sectors, amid the uncertain economic outlook caused by the current pandemic, NTU launched our FlexiMasters in April 2020. This innovative and flexible CET initiative allows working adults to upskill through modular courses that can be stacked towards a micro-credential and, where appropriate, credit transfer to a full Master’s degree.

To better reflect the flexibility of our CET curricula - especially when designing courses to respond and meet changing market demands, our FlexiMasters enable adult learners to plan their individual learning pathways. The involvement of industry practitioners, where applicable, in designing the FlexiMasters curricula and providing their valuable industry-relevant expertise in the course content and mode of delivery, thereby bringing in industry/market perspectives to the learners, is a key component of the FlexiMasters.

There is no prerequisite for learners who choose to enrol in the individual courses of the FlexiMasters. Enrolled learners can either take these courses (except for the semester long courses) (1) for knowledge, for which they will attend the course sessions and have access to course materials, and need to complete a simple assessment to demonstrate understanding of the content for SkillsFuture claims (where applicable), or (2) as a credit-bearing course for which they will have to take a more rigorous assessment/s. Learners will need indicate their choice at the point of application. Depending on the individual course objectives, learners may be required to have specific work experience and/or qualifications to enable them to learn meaningfully, positively and productively.

Our unique FlexiMasters micro-credential aims to support the learning needs of working adults and to encourage working adults to embrace reskilling and upskilling opportunities to ensure their future readiness. Furthermore, with the FlexiMasters certificate having half the academic load of a Master’s programme, working adults have the choice to transfer the completed courses to a relevant NTU Master’s programme should they wish to pursue an NTU Master’s degree.