KUALA LUMPUR: The ministries of Education and Higher Education aim to be premier higher education Technical and Vocation Education Training (TVET) providers that develop talent with knowledge and skills to meet the growing demands of the industry and promote individual opportunities for career development, said Minister of Education Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid.
Delivering the welcoming remarks on the inaugural day of the Asia-Pasific Conference on Education and Training (ACET) 2015 here today, Mahdzir said the ministries were aspiring to be front runners in TVET through their community colleges, vocational colleges, polytechnics and the Malaysian Technological Universities Network (MTUN).
"TVET is seen as a less attractive pathway compared to university education, therefore students, particularly high-performing ones do not apply for TVET courses. Malaysia needs to promote TVET as a parallel pathway to success along with tertiary education.
"In line with Shift 4 of the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2015-2025 for Higher Education, greater emphasis is placed on quality TVET graduates," he said.
The conference, which will go on for three days starting today, saw the participation of 27 countries, including ministers, deputy ministers, parliamentary secretaries and officials from countries like Afghanistan, South Korea, Brunei, India, Cambodia and Singapore.
With the theme 'Making skills development work for the future', Mahdzir set his hopes for this conference to produce outcomes that would help reform education and training with the development of TVET policies and practices that prove to be relevant for the region and beyond.
About 800 local and international participants are expected to attend the conference.