MEDIA RELEASE
APPOINTMENT OF NEW PRINCIPAL FOR REPUBLIC POLYTECHNIC
Mr Yeo Li Pheow to succeed Prof Low Teck Seng as Principal and CEO of Republic Polytechnic
Singapore, 30th June 2008 – Mr Yeo Li Pheow, Deputy Principal, Temasek Polytechnic (TP) will be appointed Principal and CEO of Republic Polytechnic (RP) on 1 July 2008. He will succeed Prof Low Teck Seng, the founding principal of RP.
Prof Low will be leaving the public sector to take up the role of Chief Executive Officer of Parkway Education, a subsidiary of Parkway Group Healthcare, after almost 30 years of distinguished service in the field of education.
Mr Yeo Li Pheow
Mr Yeo Li Pheow, 48, is currently the Deputy Principal of Temasek Polytechnic, with concurrent appointments as the Director, Temasek Business School and Director-in-charge, Entrepreneurship. Mr Yeo holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Macquarie University, Australia (1983), and a Masters in Business Administration from the Institut Superieur de Gestion, France. Mr Yeo has also been a Fellow of the Australian Society of Certified Practicing Accountants since 2003.
Mr Yeo joined the Temasek Business School in 1990, after 7 years in the finance industry. During the period May 2001 to April 2003, Mr Yeo served as a Deputy Director in the Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education, where he oversaw the financial portfolio and worked on several major policy reviews and projects, including the design of the Quality Assurance Framework for Universities (QAFU). For his contributions, Mr Yeo was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) at the National Day Awards 2003.
Upon his return to TP, Mr Yeo was appointed Director of the Temasek Business School. Under his leadership, the School grew in standing as a premier business school with strong industry and institutional linkages. He also played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Temasek Culinary Academy.
In 2004, Mr Yeo concurrently assumed the appointment of Director, Tourism Academy @ Sentosa (TAS), a joint collaboration between TP and the Sentosa Leisure Group. In 2006, he was appointed a Deputy Principal while concurrently holding the appointment of Director of Temasek Business School. As Deputy Principal, Mr Yeo was responsible for planning, formulating and implementing many of TP’s strategic plans and initiatives, such as the establishment of the Security Industry Institute (SII) in September 2007 in collaboration with the Workforce Development Authority (WDA).
Mr Yeo sits on a number of external committees, including the Go-The-Extra-Mile For Service (GEMS) Committee, PSB Academy’s Academic Board and the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) Advisory Committee for Programmes. He also serves on the Practicing Management Consultants Certification Board as Chair of its Examination Panel.
Mr Yeo has a strong understanding and in-depth perspective of technical education and is in an excellent position to lead RP in its next phase of development.
Prof Low Teck Seng
In 2001, Prof Low served as Chairman of the Task Force looking into the establishment of a fifth polytechnic in Singapore. This effort subsequently led to the creation of Republic Polytechnic in 2002 and the appointment of Prof Low as its founding principal.
Prof Low provided crucial leadership and strategic direction for the fledgling RP management and academic teams. One of RP’s key innovations was the introduction its Problem-Based Learning pedagogy, which sought to provide students with more than just content knowledge, by inculcating life-long learning skills that would facilitate them to adapt and cope with the demands of real-time work. RP’s unique approach has gained international recognition. Many distinguished academics from around the world have visited RP to understand its learning methodology.
Under Prof Low’s leadership, the RP team has grown to over 700 full-time staff and another 500 associates within six years. The rapid expansion was achieved while upholding high standards. Under Prof Low’s leadership, RP has received numerous certifications from local and international standards organisations such as International Organization for Standards (ISO) 9001, ISO 14001, Occupational Safety and Health Assessment Series (OSHAS) 18001, People Developer Standard (PDS), Singapore Quality Class (SQC), Singapore Innovation Class (SIC) and Green Mark Awards.
Prof Low gave crucial leadership to the development of RP’s permanent campus in Woodlands. The new $500 million campus was designed to be student-friendly, well-integrated, and open for use by the wider community, including other schools, community groups and businesses. A key feature of the campus is The Republic Cultural Centre (TRCC), which today not only serves the cultural needs of RP but the larger community as well.
Under Prof Low’s able leadership, RP has employed innovative and cutting-edge people management policies and technology use is pervasive. This in turn allowed RP to allocate additional resources for student development and learning, which enabled it to provide students with a full-fledged holistic learning experience. The e-learning environment in RP today allows students to learn and interact round the clock.
For his outstanding national contributions and achievements, Prof Low was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 2007.
For more information, please contact:
Benjamin Chow (Mr)
Head (Media)
Office of Corporate Communications, Republic Polytechnic
DID: (65) 9423 4423
Email: benjamin_chow@rp.sg
Khng Eu Meng (Mr)
Director
Office of Corporate Communications, Republic Polytechnic
HP: (65) 9658 7480
Email: khng_eu_meng@rp.sg
Annex A
List of Awards Received by Republic PolytechnicSingapore HEALTH Awards 2006 (GOLD)
The Singapore HEALTH (Helping Employees Achieve Life-Time Health) Award is presented by the Health Promotion Board to give national recognition to organisations with commendable Workplace Health Promotion programmes.
Distinguished Defence Partner Award
The Total Defence Awards recognize and acknowledge the support that employers and Civil Resource owners have extended towards National Defence and National Service.
The Singapore HR Awards 2006
RP received two HR awards for:
- Leading HR Practices in Learning and Human Capital Development (Special Mention)
- Leading HR Practices in Quality-Work Life Award
RP’s new Woodlands Campus was awarded the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Green Mark Platinum Award in recognition of excellence in environmentally friendly building design.
Singapore Innovation Class Award
The Singapore Innovation Class (I-Class) Programme, which was launched in July 2002, provides organisations with a framework for achieving innovation excellence.
Singapore Quality Class
Republic Polytechnic is now part of the growing number of organisations who share a vision of becoming world-class leaders and prove their worth by attaining the Singapore Quality Class (SQC).
QEHS Certified
Republic Polytechnic has been awarded ISO9001 (quality), ISO14001 (environment) and OHSAS 18001 (occupational safety/health) in 2003.
People Developer Award,
Republic Polytechnic has been awarded the People Developer Award by Spring Singapore.
Singapore Family Friendly Employer Award 2004
Republic Polytechnic has been recognised by the Ministry of Community Development and Sports for its efforts in creating a family friendly environment.
About Republic Polytechnic
The first educational institution in Singapore to adopt the Problem-Based Learning approach for all its diploma programmes, Republic Polytechnic has six schools and one centre offering twenty-nine diploma courses in Information & Communications Technology, Engineering, Applied Science, Technology for the Arts, Sports, Health & Leisure, Hotel and Hospitality, and Culture and Communication. Republic Polytechnic is committed to nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial learning in an environment that develops problem-solving process skills and a life-long learning attitude. Its holistic, broad-based curriculum, covering culture, enterprise development and cognitive processes, prepares students for an active and meaningful role in society. Republic Polytechnic strives for excellence by achieving various national and international accreditations, including People Developer Standards, ISO9001, ISO14001, OHSAS 18001, Singapore Quality Class, Singapore Innovation Class, and the Singapore Health Awards (Gold). For more information, visit http://www.rp.sg