Government engages 9 groups to make graduates more marketable

PETALING JAYA: Nine human resource and education providers have been
awarded contracts worth a total of RM60mil for the “Accelerated Skills
Enhancement Training” programme from the Human Resource Ministry.
The companies are Asia E-Learning Sdn Bhd, Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology (APIIT) Sdn Bhd, Berjaya Higher Education Sdn Bhd, Cosmopoint Sdn Bhd & consortium, Destini Prima Sdn Bhd & consortium, HELP University College Sdn Bhd, SEGi University College & consortium, SMR HR Group Sdn Bhd & consortium and Sunway International Business & Management Sdn Bhd.
The
purpose of the programme is to train unemployed graduates by making
them more marketable, to upscale the existing pool of employees and to
prepare the graduates with skills that are internationally certified.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Subramaniam: ‘By making the transition to an economy that is more knowledgeable, we are reducing the need for foreign workers.’
The
graduates will be trained in the areas related to the sectors of
economic growth such as tourism, hospitality, information technology,
logistics, finance and accounting, project management, safety and
security, and human capital.
“A high level of knowledge in the
critical sectors is very important if we are to achieve the high skills
and knowledge-based economy where everyone gets better salaries and we
are no longer a labour-intensive-dependent economy,” Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam said in a phone interview.
He
said such training programmes were a continuous process by the
Government, and was part of the many programmes that the Government was
undertaking to ensure the workforce was not just skilled, but up to
international standards.
“By making the transition to an economy
that is more knowledgeable, we are reducing the need for foreign
workers,” said Subramaniam.
He added that one reason for the high
unemployment level among graduates was partially due to the curriculum
of universities that was very generic. However, this was now also
changing, with the Government incorporating better internship programmes
and practical courses within the universities to enable graduates to
meet employers' expectations.
Presently, there are some 71,000
unemployed graduates, and the number remains persistently high despite
the Government's efforts to provide them with training.
Government
statistics showed that the number of jobless graduates had risen even
though overall unemployment had dropped. Almost one in five of the
388,000 unemployed Malaysians hold a degree or diploma.