KOTA KINABALU: More emphasis is being placed on technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to transform and make it a more popular option for youths.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Mary Yap said TVET was crucial in driving the engine of industrial and economic growth in a competitive market.
Universities should thus collaborate with industries to find ways so that their graduates would be even more capable upon entering the job market, she said when opening the Sabah TVET seminar here.
Among those present was British High Commissioner to Malaysia Victoria Treadell who said that her country had undertaken initiatives to support Malaysia in TVET.
Treadell said the support was part of the UK’s effort to continue to be Malaysia’s partner of choice in education.
“There are about 17,600 Malaysian students in the UK, which is the second largest foreign body after China and ahead of India.”
“Therefore, under our ongoing ‘Education is GREAT’ campaign, we are making British expertise in education and training accessible to Malaysia at national and state levels,” she said.
Among the areas that the United Kingdom could work with Malaysia were educational technology and resources; English language teaching; qualifications, assessment and quality assurance as well as professional development and leadership, she added.
The UK department for international trade has a dedicated education sector team that works with overseas governments, states and businesses that want to engage the nation’s partners in large-scale education projects.
