PUTRAJAYA: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students will undergo additional training in emerging sectors such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and energy transition, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
Anwar noted that about 50-100 participants from TVET centres will be given training opportunities to develop skills in these emerging fields.
"The chief secretary to the government will be coordinating these efforts," Anwar said during the TVET Day celebration in Putrajaya on Saturday (June 6).
He added that the participants will be given placements to train at facilities under the National Science Council.
This includes institutions such as MARDI, cryptology centres, or other research bodies.
“The new technologies that have been mentioned AI, cryptology, and the energy transition, are all creating entirely new fields that our generation could neither have imagined nor anticipated 20–30 years ago,” he said.
These are all emerging technologies. If we remain confined by outdated ways of thinking, we will not be able to drive the nation’s economic growth,” he added.
He said with this training TVET graduates attain a level of expertise that surpasses that of a conventional Bachelor's degree holder.
He said government funding for these institutions is also substantial.
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“However, as many of you are aware, they remain largely focused on exposure programmes, training, and their own operational work, with formal training not always forming part of their core mandate,” he said.
Therefore, I am expanding this initiative, and perhaps as early as next week, the Chief Secretary to the government will convene all these research bodies and require them to take in a number of selected students from each TVET institution.”
Anwar acknowledged that gaps remain between industry needs and current training standards.
“Although our universities possess strengths in engineering, discussions with leading companies such as NVidia, Infineon, and AWS indicate that, while we have programmes in IT and certain areas of cryptography, the level of training still falls short of industry requirements,” he said.
For example, although Infineon has a close partnership with USM, it is evident that our engineering graduates still require exposure to additional specialised skills and disciplines, and these gaps can be addressed through industry collaboration,” he added.
He said while collaboration between universities and industry exists, more structured involvement from TVET institutions and government training bodies is needed to meet evolving technical demands.
He said companies, including large profitable local firms, must take greater responsibility in providing structured training opportunities rather than relying solely on government funding.
“If they need 60 engineers in two years, they should also help train them now.
“Investors consistently emphasise the need for a stronger skilled workforce, reinforcing the urgency of expanding TVET capacity,” he said.
