circulars for SBPA members

Another milestone for WSQ

About 6 years ago, WDA started work on the Workforce Skills Qualification
(WSQ) system. The reasons were simple. A CET system that is relevant to
workers will need a skills qualification system that is competency-based.
It has to be accessible, meaning that it should have few barriers to entry,
and modular so that working adults can participate in training. It must
also offer a progression path.

Over the past 6 years, we have made significant progress. Today, we have
23 WSQ frameworks. The recognition rate of WSQ among employers has
increased to 38% and the adoption rate has risen to 12%. Both employers
and workers have reported positive outcomes from WSQ training.

Today, I am pleased to share with you that WSQ has achieved another
milestone. The WSQ has made it into the Singapore Standard Educational
Classification (SSEC). The SSEC is the national standard for classifying
educational programmes and qualifications. It is overseen by the
Department of Statistics (DOS), our national authority on statistical
standards. With effect from 2010, WSQ attainment will be regarded as a
qualification achievement as well. The inclusion in the SSEC signifies the
recognition of WSQ as a national credential, not unlike other credentials
such as those awarded by post-secondary educational institutions. WSQ’s
inclusion will present a more accurate skills profile of our workers.

The reason why WSQ has been accepted into the SSEC is due to the increasing
recognition and adoption rates which we have all worked very hard to
achieve. Thank you again for your strong support. This latest development
will serve as an encouragement to me and my colleagues as we widen and
deepen the coverage of the WSQ in the years ahead.

With Appreciation,
Chan Heng Kee
Chief Executive
Singapore Workforce Development Agency

Marshall Cavendish appoints Lee Fei Chen as Deputy Head of Publishing

Marshall Cavendish, a member of Times Publishing Limited, today announced the appointment of Lee Fei Chen to the position of Deputy Head of Publishing at Marshall Cavendish Publishing Group.

Fei Chen is responsible for formulating and implementing strategies to grow the Group’s publishing operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States. Her role will include globalising Marshall Cavendish’s publishing products, strengthening its distribution network and creating even more synergy within the Group across geographies.

With over 15 years of experience within the Group, Fei Chen is familiar with the business. She has held numerous positions in Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand in the areas of publishing, digital media and business management. Some of the titles she has held are Assistant Vice President of Publishing – Federal Publications, where she was in charge of educational publishing, General Manager of Hong Kong, covering retail, distribution and publishing, and Vice President of Times Media, where she was instrumental in setting up the organisation’s electronic publishing business.

“I am excited to be taking on this new challenge. Marshall Cavendish is well poised for continued growth as a major international publisher, and we are prepared to strategically embark on new ventures and penetrate more markets. We have been involved in digital publishing for about ten years and we have an abundance of strong, respectable and coveted media content that will drive the Group’s development and offer greater opportunities for us to extend our international footprint,” said Fei Chen.

Prior to joining Marshall Cavendish, Fei Chen worked at the Ministry of Education, Singapore, as Specialist Inspector in the Curriculum Planning Division, responsible for library and reading programmes as well as implementing the secondary syllabus for the English Language. She had also lectured on Business English and Desktop Publishing at the City University of Hong Kong Community College.

Fei Chen obtained her Masters in Education at Harvard University, on a Singapore Government Scholarship.

Singapore Ministry of Education Quarterly Updating of Implementation Schedule

Dear publishers

We have updated the implementation schedule to reflect the new/revised
implementation year for MTL ‘B’ syllabus. Other information on the
indicative implementation year of all subjects are correct as of February
2010.

Click HERE for the updated implementation schedule.

Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank
you.

Regards
Ilmar
Executive Assistant, Publication Management, Curriculum Planning and
Development Division
Tel: +65 6879 7562
Fax: +65 6879 5984
Ministry of Education
1 North Buona Vista Drive, Singapore 138675
http://www.moe.gov.sg

ASIAN FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN’S CONTENT, 6 to 9 May 2010, Singapore

Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) aims to foster excellence in the creation, production and publication of children’s material with Asian content in all formats and to facilitate their distribution and access, first in Asia and then to children worldwide.

Target participants are writers, illustrators, librarians, teachers, publishers, editors, translators, literary agents and producers of media of Asian children’s content.

The following events will be held as part of AFCC:

Theme: Asian Content for the World’s Children

a. 6 – 8 May 2010
Asian Children’s Writers and Illustrators Conference
b. 8 May 2010
Asian Primary and Preschool Teachers Congress
Asian Children’s Publishers Symposium
c. 9 May 2010
Asian Parents Forum
d. 6 – 9 May 2010
Asian Children’s Media Mart
Book Illustrators Gallery

Registration Fees:

6-8 May:
S$400 for 3 days
S$300 for any 2 days
S$180 for any 1 day
S$100 for ½ day

S$90 for 9 May only

Workshops:
S$100 per workshop for festival participants
S$150 per workshop for non-participants

Pre-registration is open NOW. For more information, click HERE or drop us an email at jade@bookcouncil.sg.

AFCC is co-organised by The Arts House and the National Book Development Council of Singapore.

Supporters:
NAC, MDA, NLB, MOE, UNESCO, Scholastic, MPH, Banyan Tree Holdings, AECES, Wheelock College, Modern Montessori International, Seed Institute,The Society for Reading & Literacy, Associations of Comic Artists, LAS, SBPA, The French Embassy, Asia Literary Review, The Little Arts, Academy, CONSAL, SOPA, Siyahi, AABC, National Book Development Board of Philippines, Asia-Pacific Writing Partnership, IFLA, SCBWI, PaperTigers,Institute of Asia and Asian Diasporas (Binghamton University – USA)

2010 APPA Book Awards

The APPA Awards have been established as one of the most prestigious book awards in the region which promotes publishing activities of the member countries and strengthens relationships among them

Nominated Titles: If an English title exists, please use it. If no English title exists, please provide the original title (in alphabetic script) plus an approximate English translation of the title.

Date of Issue: To qualify for the 2010 APPA Awards, the book must have been published in the year of 2009. Books published in other years are not eligible.

Application form: Please email appa@kpa21.or.kr for an application form.

A: Translated Books
The nominated book must have been translated from the language of one APPA member country into the language of another member country. The publisher of the original book and the publisher of the translated book must be from two different member countries.

B: Co- / jointly published Books
The publishers must be from two or more different publishing companies. The publishers companies must also be from two or more different APPA member countries. The Award prize shall be divided equally between (or among) the co-/joint publishers.

For co-/joint publishers, both (or all) of the publishers must be members of their respective national publishers associations. For translated books, the nominating publisher must be a member of its national publishers association. The original publisher does not need to be a member of its national publishing association.

Summary: In order to assist the judges in their decisions, please provide a short summary of the contents of the book in English.

Submission of nominated books: A copy of each nominated entry must be provided by publishers for judging. This book will become the property of APPA and will not be returned.

Deadline: Application must reach the APPA Secretariat Office
by no later than April 30, 2010.

Please send
NOMINATION CARDS
APPA Secretariat Office
c/o Korean Publishers Association
105-2, Sagan-dong, Jongno-gu
Seoul 110-190, KOREA
Phone: +82 2 735 2702 Fax: +82 2 738 5414
E-mail: appa@kpa21.or.kr

DEADLINE: April 30, 2010

* You could use also the nomination list (MS Excel) instead of the nomination card and send it per e-mail.

Please send
NOMINATED BOOKS

Ms. Lee B. Ulangca
Philippine Educational Publishers Association
#84 P. Florentino St.
Sta. Mesa Heights,
Quezon City
Philippines
Tel +63-2-740-2698
e-mail: lee_ulangca@yahoo.com

DEADLINE: May 21, 2010

INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN BRIEFING ON FULL LAUNCH OF THE SKILLSCONNECT SYSTEM (PHASE 2)

The Singapore Workforce Development Agency had embarked on the development of an e-portal in order to better serve our partners in course accreditation and incentives management. This web portal will serve to provide a single platform for all transactions and will replace our various systems (SDF EasyNet and SRPNet).

2. Following the launch of Phase 1 of the SkillsConnect system on 1 November 2008 for course accreditation, Phase 2 of the system will be ready for a full launch on 22 March 2010.

3. The e-services made available in this phase include :

a. Registration/Update of Organisation Profile/Details

b. Course Approval for Funding
i. Training Organisations can apply for course accreditation (where applicable) and course funding approval in one transaction

c. Submission of Application and Claims for both Course Fee Grant and Absentee Payroll Grant

4. All transactions pertaining to course fee grant, absentee payroll grant, profile registration, and course approvals are to be made in the SkillsConnect system. For a list of functionalities that would be available in the various systems, please refer to Annex A.

5. We cordially invite you to one of the several briefing sessions that we would be conducting to share and demonstrate the functionalities of the SkillsConnect system.

Details of the Briefing Sessions for Companies:

Venue : Suntec Singapore
International Convention and Exhibition Centre
Meeting Room 203, Level 2
1 Raffles Boulevard
Singapore 039593
Date
Time
22 February 2010
9.00 am – 12.30 pm
23 February 2010
9.00 am – 12.30 pm

Details of the Briefing Sessions for Training Organisations:

Venue : Singapore Workforce Development Agency
Training Room 1 – Teamwork
1 Marina Boulevard, #16-01
Singapore 018989

Date
Time
24 February 2010
9.00 am – 12.30 pm

If you are interested to attend the briefing, please email us at fiona_tang@wda.gov.sg at least 3 days before the session with the following details :
a. Organisation Name
b. Name(s) of Attendee(s)
c. Designation of Attendee(s)
d. Date of briefing session

6. We look forward to your participation. For further enquiries, you may wish to call 6883 5885 or email us at wda_sdf@wda.gov.sg.

Cape Town Book Fair 2010

SBPA members are invited to exhibit at the 5th Annual Cape Town Book Fair to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 30 July to 2 August 2010.

From Cape Town Book Fair: We are very pleased to announce that 30 July, the first day of the fair, will be a dedicated trade day, a day exclusively reserved for publishers and trade visitors as well as institutional buyers. We will further arrange “matchmakings” to introduce interested parties to each other and stage seminars addressing hot topics of the trade. As another “First Time” all exhibitors can register their exhibited titles from 2008 onwards on our website, so as to promote them to potential buyers at an early stage. Together with the Goethe-Institute and other partners we will continue our efforts to ensure that more publishers from other African countries will exhibit at the CTBF. While strengthening the trade aspect of the fair, we will also keep on staging the very popular seminars and events at the Fair, aimed at attracting the general public. Last not but least we can ensure you of a much improved shelving system.

I have much pleasure in attaching the Registration form and Registration Booklet for your perusal. Please note that we have introduced an early bird discount of 2.5 % which is applicable to all bookings made by 31 December 2009 and payment by 31 January 2010.

A hard copy has been sent to you in the post. In the meanwhile you are welcome to complete the application form online at www.capetownbookfair.co.za or complete the attached form and fax to +27 (21) 418 5949.

If you have further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at +27 (21) 418 5493 or email Sadika Ahmed at ahmeds@capetownbookfair.co.za

Click HERE for the registration booklet
Click HERE for the registration form

We very much look forward to welcoming you in Cape Town in July 2010!

With very best wishes
Claudia Kaiser, Director
Sadika Ahmed, Exhibition Manager
Cape Town Book Fair
Tel: +27 21 418 5493
Fax: +27 21 418 5949

COPYRIGHT LAWS OF ASEAN COUNTRIES

The ASEAN Book Publishers Association — of which the SBPA is a member — has published the following reference book: “COPYRIGHT LAWS OF ASEAN COUNTRIES”.

It is a matrix that compares the copyright laws of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The reference manual was compiled by Attorney Buhain, Chairperson of the Legal, Copyright and Licensing Sub-committee of the ASEAN Book Publishers Association.

Members are welcome to refer to it. A copy is in safe-keeping with Ms Betty Tan, Asst Honorary Secretary, SBPA. Please contact Betty at tan_betty@englishcorner.sg if you wish to borrow it.

Taipei International Book Exhibition 2010

The deadline of early bird registration for TIBE 2010 is due on 30.September 2009.

The Registration for the Taipei International Book Exhibition is now already started!

This is the absolutely best chance to get a direct and efficient communication with the international publishers from Asian and the world. To have a better registration rate for your participation, we would like to remind you do not miss the deadline of Early Bird Registration on 30, September 2009 and 10% discount of your stand rental fee will be guaranteed.

With France as the Guest of Honor for the TIBE 2010, a big delegation of significant French publishers and writers will be presented during the fair. Besides, the major Chinese publishers will also take part in the TIBE 2010. It¡¦s an ideal opportunity for you to create the rights and culture communication with Chinese language publishers!

*For more information and registration details, click here.

or contact :
Mr. Lu-Yen LU
Taipei Book Fair Foundation
12F, No. 178, Sec. 1, Keelung Road, Taipei 110 Taiwan
Tel: +886 2 2767 1268 (Ext. 108)
Fax: +886 2 2767 2808
e-mail: luluyen@taipeibookfair.org

Manila International Book Fair 16 – 20 September, 2009

The 30th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) is gearing up for its biggest run yet. As the Philippines’ premier book event, the MIBF celebrates its pearl anniversary by bringing together all sectors involved in the publishing industry. The MIBF is slated on September 16 – 20, 2009 at the SMX Convention Center, Exhibit Halls 1 – 4, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.

As one of the longest-running book fairs in Asia, the MIBF is also considered one of the most accessible venues for showcasing published works. The MIBF brings local and international publishers, book sellers, wholesalers, writers and readers to one venue.

This year, the MIBF promises to be bigger than ever. This much awaited event has amassed a following of approximately 60,000 avid book lovers who flock to the fair every year. And with a line-up of co-located events throughout the fair, this year’s MIBF is expected to double its visitor turnout than in previous years.

The following are the co-located events to be held in conjunction with the MIBF:
1. Career and Guidance Counseling Exhibit by Inter-Ed Specialists Experts provide students with guidance as these bright, young minds set their sights on careers after school.
Date and venue: September 17-18, 2009 at SMX Function Rooms 1-2
Expected number of attendees: 7,000 per day
Audience profile: Students

2. A Tribute to Teachers 2009 by Diwa Learning Systems and Bato Balani Foundation
The biggest annual gathering of teachers, principals and school administrators in the country, where individuals who mold, inspire, motivate and encourage young minds are honored and recognized.
Date and venue: September 19, 2009 at SMX Function Rooms 1-5
Expected number of attendees: 7,000 – 10,000
Audience profile: Teachers

3. Edu.Shop
A on-stop-shop fair that will showcase other non-instructional materials, supplies, facilities, and equipment needed by schools and also students.
Date and venue: September 16-20 at SMX Exhibit Hall
Expected number of attendees: 7,000 daily
Audience profile: School Officials, Academe, Librarians, Procurement Officers & General Public

4. A Special visit of Mr. Andrew Matthews to “The 30th Manila International Book Fair”
Mr. Matthews is a best selling author, cartoonist and international speaker. His bestselling books: Happiness in a Nutshell, Happiness Now, Follow your Heart, Being a Happy Teen and Get Faxed have been translated into 35 different languages.

Primetrade Asia, Inc. is organizing the fair in partnership with the Asian Catholic Communicators, Inc., Book Development Association of the Philippines, Philippine Booksellers Association, Inc. and the Publishers’ Representatives Organization of the Philippines. A major objective of the fair is to promote good reading habits, especially among the youth, and to create opportunities for people to avail of books and learning tools for the development, upgrading, or institutionalizing skills of the book industry and its allied industries, thereby, upgrading learning and teaching levels. Another goal is to provide a venue where an exchange of ideas can take place among publishers, booksellers, librarians, academicians, writers, printers, manufacturers and distributors of educational aids and all those connected with book development, publishing, printing, computer distributors/retailers, school and
office supplies, computer and learning institutes and related trade from within and outside the Philippines; and to encourage authorship and improve the literacy and creative content of books published.

In this regard, we wish to invite your company once again to be a part of this event. We reserved booth nos. 213 – 215 to be shared by ABPA members free-of-charge, (please see attached floorplan for your reference).

Should you need to discuss matters in detail, please do not hesitate to contact the Undersigned or Ms. Bernadette Catahan at telephone nos. 896-0661 or 896-0682, fax nos. 896-0695, 897-0139 or through email address: bookfair@primetradeasia.com