PUTRAJAYA: Industry players and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions must cooperate to enable local TVET institutions to offer high technology industry courses based on industry requirements.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said they must work together to ensure that there was matching supply and demand.
He said the government believed that such cooperation would create a new breed of specialist workforce trained in the latest technology.
He said this would have a spillover effect that would boost economic growth and technological development in other sectors such as agriculture, construction, health and services.
“The government believes the agenda to empower TVET with the cooperation of industry players should be (one of) the national TVET strategic goals.
“A smart partnership between the industry and TVET institutions would help in the production of quality products and more efficient services,” Dr Mahathir said at the TVET Convention 2019, here, today.
Also present was Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran.
Dr Mahathir urged industry players to play a more active role in developing the country’s human capital and supporting the national TVET policy, especially by recognising the skills of TVET graduates and sharing their expertise with them.
“We do not only want to prepare youths for the job market, but also skilled human capital for the development of the country.
“TVET graduates of programmes offered by public TVET institutions and multinational companies have proved to be successful, where almost 90 per cent of TVET graduates were able to secure a job after completion of study.
“This is why the major players such as public and private TVET institutes should get out of their comfort zone and find effective solutions.”
Dr Mahathir said Malaysia could not afford to be left behind in this fast changing technological era.
“Industry development in Malaysia cannot run away from global development, especially the Fourth Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) where work processes and business methods are more advanced and intelligent.
“Therefore, TVET industry players are urged to benefit from the ‘Industry Forward’ to boost their ability and competence in facing new challenges,” he added.
The prime minister said training skilled workers would also reduce the country’s dependence on foreign workers.
“The government will continue to enhance the ability and capacity of Malaysian youths in TVET to ensure the needs of high technology industries are met by local workers.
“This will also change the labour market in which the government can prioritise producing more highly skilled jobs that offer high income.
“This is synonymous with our efforts to attract investments to this country,” he added.
At the event, Dr Mahathir also participated in a dialogue session with the chief executive officers of the various industries in the country.
The two-day conference which kicked-off yesterday is themed: “Human Capital Development to Enhance Future Skills Agenda”.