Edwin Oh Chun Kit, a researcher at the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research ( INSAP ), a Malaysia think tank, warned that these paradoxes, if unaddressed, will increase the risk of further long-term economic stagnation.
To ensure position with market demands, he told CNA,” The management may try to optimize inter-ministerial coordination and strengthen oversight for both TVET and higher education.”
Companies may also consult with the government and collaborate with educational organizations to “provide real-world insight into evolving workplace needs,” Oh remarked.
MAKING TVET MORE ATTRACTIVE
TVET aims to produce grads in fields like manufacturing, design, medical and data technology with skills related to business needs.
TVET classes, which range from amounts 1 to 5 with the highest being similar to an innovative certificate or associate degree, are offered at public and private universities, colleges and community schools across Malaysia.
” With greater collaboration in these attempts, Malaysia can successfully bridge the skills imbalance, improve labour market results, and drive sustainable socioeconomic growth”, Oh added.
Malaysia produces about 100, 000 TVET graduates each year. According to Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also the chairman of the National TVET Council, the government is aiming to attract 500, 000 students this year to all 1, 398 TVET institutions nationwide.
” The courses provided are tailored to meet employer demands, particularly from industries, and Memorandums of Agreement have been signed between TVET institutions and employers”, he said on Jan 11 as quoted by Bernama.
This implies that TVET graduates will immediately be employed by these employers after finishing their courses.
In a bid to make TVET more attractive, Sim said he had proposed to the Cabinet to introduce levels 6, 7 and 8 for the programme,” sort of” equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and a doctorate.
Other plans include promoting access to TVET through the creation of a “skill university” without a fixed term schedule and racial quota, Sim said, adding that students from all backgrounds can enroll at any time.
TVET NOT LIKE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
Sim did warn that the changes are not intended to make TVET more like a university education, noting that the latter is not designed to meet the demands of the day.
” We have to rethink university. I think, essentially, university is for you to go ( for ) four years ( of ) deep thinking. Consider the purpose of life. What is love? What is pain? What is death? Where is God? Who is God”? he said.
However, such a training model may not necessarily benefit the industry. Which is why the obsession with making TVET to be like university, I think we should change”.
Sim later clarified that a university education was still required for such philosophical training but not for current industrial requirements.
” What I’m trying to say is this: If you believe the current university model will be able to meet the demand for your job market, then you are delusional. Because universities … (are ) not created for the industrialised world”, he added.