Sin Chew Daily - Maszlee: Increase level of technical and vocational education ; MOE enhances cooperation with private enterprises
Education Ministry to strengthen collaboration with private sectors
Kuala Lumpur, 17 July 2019 - Minister of Education, Dr. Maszlee Malik said technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is the key to drive the country’s development, however only 5.6% of students, which is around 22,000, enrolled in TVET programs in 2018. Hence, the ministry is committed to increase the quality of the courses so that it becomes the primary choice for students. He said, the Ministry of Education will sign certificate of collaboration (CoC) with Berjaya Corp. Bhd., Top Glove Corp. Bhd., Tropicana Corp. Bhd. and Naza Group to upgrade TVET. Other than that, four oil and gas companies from Johor and Perak as well as several financial and banking institutions have express interest to collaborate with the Ministry of Education. He added, in 2017 there was one among five graduates who were unemployed after six months graduated while according to Jobstreet’s research in 2018, 30% of the corporates were in expansion plan. This had clearly shown there’s mismatch in supply and demand of skills, as well as graduates skills and employability. “TVET has to be industry-oriented, similar with what I’ve seen during my last visit to China. The private sectors play major role to upgrade and nurture highly-skilled students.”
Provides more job opportunities for students “The four firms that we are collaborating with have more than 35,000 employees with income more than RM 14bil. The collaboration would upgrade the education to a higher level and emphasize the provision of training, facilities, workshops, career opportunities and networks for TVET students.” He added, the ministry would also establish TVET Committee to properly strategize and improve overall education ecosystem of the country. Through many discussion and meetings, mutual understandings will be achieved to establish more of groundbreaking partnerships. He also said TVET is important in alleviating the mismatch in supply and demand of skills, future-proofing of students towards the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0). This include collaborate with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and ME. REKA Makerspace to provide learning experience that compatible with IR 4.0, as well as introduced online safety course in three art universities. Dr. Mazlee Malik attended the contract-signing ceremony with four firms and Education Ministry Deputy Secretary-General for Strategy Planning Datuk Kamel Mohamad read his speech text. Department of Polytechnic and Community College acting director-general Dr Mohammad Naim Yaakub said the TVET Committee that lead by Dr. Mszlee Malik will submit its research proposal to the board by end of this month. Among those who attended were Top Glove Corp. Bhd. Manufacturing and Operations Adviser Datuk Dr. Andy Seo, Tropicana Corp. Bhd. Marketing and Sales Managing Director Ung Lay Ting, Berjaya Corp. Bhd. Chief Executive Officer Datuk Seri Robin Tan Yeong Ching and Naza Group Chief Strategy Officer Azrul Reza Aziz.
