KUALA LUMPUR: Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) courses are not seeing high demand in Malaysia, even as skilled workers are crucial to driving the country’s economy, said Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic).
The MCA president said while TVET was one of the ways to produce technical and vocational talents to fill the pool of skilled workers in the country, enrolment has been on a downward trend since 2017, far lower than 39.5% in China and 48.7% in Europe in 2019.
“In 2020, Malaysia produced some 255,000 graduates, with 86% of them from non-vocational backgrounds, and 14% from various TVET programmes.
“The lack of interest among students, parental influence, negative social perception, inexperienced TVET instructors and poor infrastructure at TVET institutions are some of the reasons for the low enrolment in Malaysia.
“The low supply of skilled workers with vocational skill sets may affect economic growth in both short and long terms,” said Dr Wee at the launch of VTAR Institute’s latest programme of Diploma in Digitalisation (Manufacturing Automation) at the institution here yesterday.
He also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between VTAR Institute and the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) and SME Association of Malaysia (SME Malaysia) to give them priority in recruiting students for internships and graduates for job placements.
In view of this huge need for skilled technical workers, Dr Wee said there is a certain urgency needed in providing educational solutions to meet the demand.
Lauding the new programme, Dr Wee said during a press conference later that it was the first vocational diploma in Malaysia to equip students with a holistic digitalisation skill set, which is in line with market needs.
“Students will learn how to execute digitalisation projects and manage data to increase productivity and quality.
“They will be IT professionals specialised in implementing Industrial Revolution 4.0 in a structured manner for the manufacturing industry, which is in urgent need of automation to increase output and productivity,” he said.
Quoting JobStreet’s Salary Report 2022, Dr Wee said IT professionals are the highest paid across all specialisations, including accounting, human resources, technical as well as sales and marketing.
“The entry-level salary for IT professionals in the manufacturing industry is reported at RM3,175 through recruitment analysis.
“When I first graduated as an engineer from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia some time ago, I was offered a job that paid RM2,200 a month. So at RM3,175, it’s not bad at all as a start.
“Hopefully this will change the negative social perception of TVET,” he added.
Dr Wee noted that Malaysian vocational graduates have also been sought after in Singapore, which proved the quality of our TVET education.
“Those who have completed their SPM only need to be trained. Those who lack an academic background can make this their option,” said Dr Wee, who also urged the industry to provide financial assistance to support students from the B40 group.
“Let’s work together to support the digital transformation agenda, increase the competitiveness of our manufacturers, and attract more foreign direct investments,” he added.
