The International Labour Organisation had suggested that Malaysia shift its emphasis from academic education to technical and vocational education training (TVET) as a way of dealing with the issue of employability among graduates.
There is data that suggests that TVET and skills training graduates had better chances of finding employment than those with higher education degrees.
The 2019 statistics show that polytechnic graduates had the highest percentage of employment at 81.2% followed by graduates of vocational colleges at 76.7%, community colleges at 74.4%, and those from other public skills training institutions at between 57.1 and 71.4% compared with 62.8% for those from tertiary education institutions
Malaysia is in a critical juncture of its development, and it needs a skilled workforce to help it move up to the next phase of its development, it must provide a sufficient eco-system in ensuring the supply of technical graduates through TVET
This is paramount if it needs to entice foreign investors into the country whose prime consideration is a skilled workforce if they are to make Malaysia the gateway for its final products into the Asean markets
It has to a large extent done so through various initiatives, the recent one being the National TVET Council that was established in December 2020.
This council had met recently on the 3rd of February to discuss ways to strengthen the TVET ecosystem. In the meeting, the council had endorsed – among other decisions – the establishment of the Government-Industry TVET Coordination Body (GITC). There are now about 1,300 public and private TVET institutions governed by 11 ministries
In order firstly ensure that there is a sufficient supply of TVET graduates in Malaysia, the government and the private sector must start an “attitudinal revolution among the students who are apt on taking the conventional academic pathways and see TVET is only as a second choice, aptly suited for those who are less bright, not realising the potential benefits of a TVET Education.
Secondly, there is a need for streamlining TVET as there are now around 11 ministries involved with TVET and it should rationalise the ministries involved to ensure that that the government conserves its resources from spreading too thinly,
Another important issue that it needs to address is while there are about 1,300 public and private TVET institutions, there is widespread complaints that some of them do not meet industry standards and there are no proper instructors of experience in the various TVET programmes.
If the young are to be inspired to learn, there must be sufficient experienced tutors who have industry experience so that classroom teaching is not devoid of marketplace reality. Towards achieving this, it should recruit experienced retired workers as adjunct lecturers to facilitate the learning process for TVET students.
In addition, the classroom could also be made fun of using AI learning that would facilitate the learning process.
It is hoped that all these initiatives would ensure the supply of TVET graduates that would meet industrial demands of either local investors or foreign investors, but the private sector must also play a pro-active role ensuing more collaboration with these TVET institutions to ensure that Malaysia produces quality graduates that meet industry standards.
Towards achieving this, it can make sure it works with institutions in providing industrial training while the students are pursuing their courses at the institution so that industry-relevant graduates are produced.
In addition, the various industries should contribute by making available its former experienced employees return to contribute their experience in the various institutions as adjunct instructors.
The private sector must also do its part in ensuring the success of producing industry-relevant graduates that would help facilitate Malaysia towards graduating it from the present middle-income trap that it is in.
Towards greater industry collaboration, Malaysia would have sufficient technical workforces to allow it to move to the next phase of its economic trajectory.
