Undergraduate Ms Shiva Shankari Elangovan is one of the beneficiaries of PSB Academy’s new initiative to provide financial assistance to its cohorts. PHOTO: PSB ACADEMY
PSB Academy’s new $3 million Future Together Initiative offers some financial relief and support to local students such as Ms Shiva Shankari Elangovan
When you look at how far Ms Shiva Shankari Elangovan has come since her days at the Institute of Technical Education, the 31-year-old’s tenacity really shines through.
Now a Learning & Delivery specialist at a top IT multinational company, Ms Elangovan has often juggled work and school since she started her first job at the age of 17 — supporting her parents and siblings financially while striving to better her qualifications and work her way up.
This year, in spite of a devastating global pandemic that has decimated jobs and disrupted lives, the diploma holder continues soldiering on to achieve her lifelong dream of earning a Master’s degree. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management (Top-up) degree offered by Edinburgh Napier University at PSB Academy, one of Singapore’s leading private education institutions.
And along with her fellow eligible students who commenced the course in June 2020, Ms Elangovan is enjoying the benefits of PSB Academy’s new Future Together Initiative.
PROVIDING FINANCIAL RELIEF TO STUDENTS
Launched this August, the Future Together Initiative provides tuition fee waivers, course fee guarantees, study credits, and rebates and grants to local students at PSB Academy till the end of the year. About 2,500 eligible students are expected to benefit from this initiative.
“We are standing in solidarity with our students and their families who have displayed extraordinary resolve in these unprecedented times. These times of uncertainties come and go, but this should not affect a person’s education,” says PSB Academy chief executive officer Derrick Chang.
The $3m initiative, fully funded by PSB Academy, covers the institute’s suite of academic courses ranging from certificate and diploma programmes to undergraduate and postgraduate degrees offered by its partner universities in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
As part of the initiative, PSB Academy is also stepping up its partnerships with companies and other institutions keen to support over 1,000 local students who are expected to graduate this year. They come from across disciplines such as Accounting and Finance, Engineering, Cyber Security, Business Management, and Biomedical and Sports Sciences. PSB Academy is also exploring job and internship placements or job preparation skills training for them.
Ms Elangovan has received $1,000 in study credits, which will help defray some of the interest incurred on her bank study loan. She says: “When I found out about the initiative, I knew PSB Academy was thinking of their students and giving back to us so we can continue on our learning journey with less of a financial burden.
“The school is doing so much to help us. As students, all we have to do is share our difficulties with the administrators, and they will be there to lend a helping hand.”
PRIORITISING STUDENTS’ INTERESTS
This student-centric approach was what made Ms Elangovan decide to enrol in PSB Academy in the first place. A year into her current job at the IT MNC, she had decided to upgrade her qualifications to advance her career prospects. She found PSB Academy after a Google search, and enquired about its three-year bachelor’s degrees.
Instead, a programme specialist asked to see her diploma transcripts, and advised her on the criteria for direct entry into the third year of the Bachelor’s programme, saving her time and money. “The specialist could have simply enrolled me in the three-year programme like I’d asked, but she went one step further to see what would suit me best. This made me feel like PSB Academy puts a lot of thought into charting their students’ education journeys,” she says.
PSB Academy also has a Unibuddy Ambassador programme, of which Ms Elangovan is a volunteer. The Unibuddy is an online tool that connects prospective students with existing students within PSB Academy’s chat platform, to answer their queries about programmes and campus life.
Says Ms Elangovan: “Unibuddy helps prospective students relate better to PSB Academy and get burning questions answered even before enrolling.
“All through my life, I’ve had to figure out the answers to so many questions by myself. This time, it’s nice to be a part of a programme like Unibuddy to help others out.”
A SMOOTH TRANSITION TO ONLINE LEARNING DURING COVID-19
The same commitment to give its students the best environment for learning was also evident in how quickly and efficiently classes transitioned from physical lectures to online learning, so that lessons would not be disrupted.
“On the night of our induction, we received e-mails telling us that all classes would be conducted online, along with instructions about the roll-out. No time was wasted and everything — the backend administration, setup and our accounts — was ready to run. Lessons proceeded as scheduled, with no delays,” Ms Elangovan says.
Face-to-face interactions and the human touch are missed, but the school’s service standards lived up to its reputation. In Ms Elangovan’s experience, lecturers are always available and contactable at any time, and administration staff reply to students’ e-mails quickly, sometimes promptly.
Till she completes her degree programme in May next year, Ms Elangovan hopes to develop her skills at work, and become a leader in the training and development sector.
She says: “I think the training and development function in any company is impactful as it passes on knowledge to people. Our contribution is significant, and it generates direct and indirect revenues for the organisation.
“Click here for more information on PSB Academy’s Future Together Initiative.
FORGING A FUTURE TOGETHER
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