KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has been urged to assist higher education institutions (HEIs) to review existing and new courses more quickly and systematically, so that their approved courses will always be relevant to the changing needs of industries.
Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said the process to review, update and approve courses should not take up to five years.
“We (employers) understand that changing or introducing new courses is difficult and time-consuming.
“The challenge is that the shelf life for each course is short…for example, at the time the course is proposed, it may be relevant, but due to the long time it takes to be approved, it may no longer be relevant by then.
“Here, there is a need for MQA to look at (their) way of approving the latest courses…they should not take too long,” he told Bernama.
He was asked to comment on the recent disclosure by Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik that the data collected by his ministry through the Graduate Detection Survey System in 2018 found that nearly 60 per cent of graduates who had completed their first degree and above were unemployed after one year of graduation.
Commenting on this, Shamsuddin said the situation could result in graduates being left behind, possess outdated information and lacking in relevant skills required by the industry, thus contributing to the rising unemployment rate.
In addition, he said as potential employees, graduates should be brave enough to step out of their comfort zone, and be flexible and accept jobs which were beyond the scope their courses, as employers needed more qualified candidates who were able to do a variety of jobs in the advent of Industrial Revolution 4.0.
“Graduates should not be too picky about the job at the beginning, instead, they should challenge themselves to gain experience, improve their skills, even if the scope of their work is outside of their field or course taken.
“This helps graduates to market themselves,” he said.
He also noted that students should consider going for ‘dual-degrees’ so that they could master two fields at once, adding direct value to their employability.
However, when asked about the country’s current job market, he admitted that it was increasingly challenging to get employed today.
The ability of employers to create new job opportunities at present was challenging, he said adding that the posts available were mostly to replace older employees.
“Each year about 200,000 graduates are produced, but the number of job opportunities offered is only about 90,000, and this has resulted in a glut of graduates (without work),” he said.
Meanwhile, the collaboration between industry players and HEIs also needs to be enhanced to ensure that graduates have the right knowledge, skills and exposure for a particular job or industry.
Elaborating on the matter, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) vice president (talent development and digital entrepreneurship) Dr Sumitra Nair said among the practical methods which could be used was to give students the opportunity to produce year-end projects with guidance and evaluation by industry players.
She said through collaborations between MDEC and 11 universities and five polytechnics recognised as Premier Digital Technology Institutions, 95 per cent of graduates were employed within 6 months of graduation. — Bernama