Paying students a salary

Hybrid learning: Dyson students do not pay fees but receive a full salary to work on real-world projects three days a week and study in the classroom for two days. — 123rf.com

Human capital and talent are central to Malaysia’s economic growth and development. Graduate employability, however, remains a matter of much concern and debate.

According to the latest Higher Education Ministry statistics, higher education institutions produced a whopping 314,700 graduates last year, of whom 147,247 were undergraduate degree holders.

Yet we regularly hear of companies struggling to find the right talent, particularly in sought-after disciplines.

Specifically, TalentCorp’s annual Critical Occupations List identifies hard-to-fill positions in finance, construction, engineering, information technology, aerospace and other industries, both at managerial and technical levels.

The debate on graduate employability, skills mismatch and the academic-industry gap is important but multi-faceted.

Some might even argue that the role of universities is to educate, rather than to train, which is the responsibility of hiring companies.

It was therefore with great interest that I read the news that the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology in the United Kingdom was recently granted full taught degree-awarding powers by the English regulator, the Office for Students – a first.

The Dyson Institute is a private institution established in 2017 by British inventor and business leader Sir James Dyson, famously known for the bagless vacuum cleaner. He was inspired to do so when then Minister for Universities Jo Johnson told him to “set up his own institution” after he lamented the lack of engineering talent. This is despite the fact that the UK has a brethren of world-renowned universities with engineering faculties.

Unlike students in traditional universities in the UK, Dyson students do not pay fees but receive a full salary to work on real-world projects three days a week and study in the classroom for two days. The hybrid element offers an ideal environment to entwine theory and practice, unlike universities that offer summer placements or a placement year.

Dyson students benefit in several ways. They avoid racking up student debt, earn while they learn, gain valuable work experience with a reputed employer, and get a recognised engineering degree after four years.

No doubt, many graduates continue with gainful employment at Dyson, or become much sought-after in the market should they pursue other opportunities.While Dyson students may not enjoy the same lifestyle as those in traditional universities, the benefits for some outweigh the drawbacks, and my sense is that the Dyson Institute will be hugely popular in years to come.

In some ways, the Dyson model is transformative in a higher education ecosystem that has changed little in the past century.

Would a Dyson model work in Malaysia? I believe so. The cost of university education and good career prospects are typically top of mind for most Malaysian students and parents.

The real question is whether the Malaysian corporate equivalents of Dyson would be prepared to take up the challenge, and whether the Higher Education Ministry would endorse it and serve as an enabler for change.

It should be noted that the concept of a corporate-owned university is not new in Malaysia. Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS is wholly-owned by PETRONAS, and Multimedia University is wholly-owned by Telekom Malaysia.

However, both universities operate as traditional universities and charge university fees, and so can’t be compared with the Dyson model.

The Dyson model is a compelling initiative in the face of the country’s continued talent crunch, brain drain and graduate employability concerns. It would also offer youths a meaningful alternative to the current one-size-fits-all approach to earning a degree.

In Malaysia’s next Higher Education Roadmap, perhaps consideration could be given to reshaping the higher education ecosystem by distinguishing traditional universities, some of which may be teaching or research-intensive, from more specialised industry-based institutions with a stronger focus on professional degrees and development.

Prof Wing Lam is the provost and chief executive officer at University of Reading Malaysia, an international branch campus of University of Reading, United Kingdom. He has held a variety of academic positions in Malaysia, Singapore and the UK. Prof Wing completed his PhD in computer science at King’s College London in 1994. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and journals. His current areas of research interest include technology and innovation. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.