KUALA LUMPUR: The National Tech Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) and online employment portal JobStreet Malaysia continue to urge Malaysians to upskill and reskill due to demands of today's digital economy.
In a joint statement issued by both organisations, PIKOM chairman Danny Lee stressed that 'digital first' skills and expertise would constantly be in demand due to the pervasiveness of technology within the modern workplace.
"Malaysians need to be on a constant learning curve so that they can better future-proof their careers," said Lee.
"There is an urgent need for people to upskill themselves with knowledge of digital technologies coupled with digital literacy and transferable skills," he added, encouraging Malaysians to sign up for free courses offered by global universities and industry experts through the JobStreet platform.
JobStreet is currently running a campaign with British digital education platform FutureLearn to offer free courses from world-class universities and industry experts, subject to one course per individual.
The statement added that specialised technology courses were among the most popular ones under this initiative.
The most popular course among Malaysians currently is An Introduction to Cybersecurity, offered by Open University, a public research university and the largest university in the UK for undergraduate education.
The second most popular course is Programming For Everybody (Getting Started with Python), by the University of Michigan, United States, while coming in third is Logical And Critical Thinking offered by New Zealand's University of Auckland.
Further, Big Data Analytics: Opportunities, Challenges, and the Future by Australia's Griffith University and The British Council's English for the Workplace are fourth and fifth most popular, respectively.
Meanwhile JobStreet country manager Simran Kaur is heartened that Malaysians are making an effort to upskill and reskill themselves to stay relevant within today's Digital Economy.
"We look forward for more Malaysians to level up their careers so that they would constantly be in demand against the ever evolving employment landscape," she said.
FutureLearn, founded in December 2012, is jointly owned by The Open University, a public research university and the largest university in the UK for undergraduate education, and SEEK Ltd, JobStreet's parent company.
The campaign, which concludes on 31 May 2021 or when the 100,000 course vouchers are fully redeemed, offers over 80 courses focusing on emerging and transferrable soft skills.
Upon completion of their respective courses, candidates would then receive their certificate which they could then attach to their JobStreet profiles, before unlocking new 'jobs that matter' opportunities from the JobStreet portal.