30 students awarded MPA Global Internship Award

SINGAPORE - The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has awarded 30 undergraduates the MPA Global Internship Award (GIA).

This is the largest number of award recipients since the programme started in 2013. The students, who have backgrounds in maritime studies, business management, economics, accountancy and law, were selected from a pool of more than 170 applicants.

Launched in 2013, the MPA GIA programme allows high-achieving local undergraduates from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) to undertake interships in the local and overseas offices of participating maritime companies.

A total of $2 million has been committed over a period of five years to support the MPA GIA.

This year, 21 maritime companies covering different sectors including shipping; shipbroking; ship finance; marine insurance; offshore; and maritime law participated in the programme.

Mr Andrew Tan, Chief Executive, MPA said: "We are heartened by the encouraging response to the MPA GIA 2015, as the increased number of applications, recipients and participating companies indicate the value of the programme and commitment in developing manpower for Maritime Singapore."

"The global internship programme is an example of MPA's manpower development efforts to attract young talent to the maritime sector, which also complements and supports the national SkillsFuture initiative," he added.

The 10-week internship programme will start on May 18, and includes overseas stints of up to four weeks covering, Australasia, the Middle East, South Africa, Europe and America.

ljessica@sph.com.sg