PETALING JAYA: A more organised approach to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is essential to ensure that both employers and job seekers derive the desired benefit.
The first step, according to experts and business leaders, is for the government to reduce its role in providing TVET.
TVET is essential to meet industry demand for recruits who are more prepared to start work, as well as job seekers’ need to get employed.
At its core, TVET prepares the undergraduate for the real world by recruiting them as interns to enable them to gain work experience.
By all accounts, it is a game changer. Those who have gone through such internship are said to be better prepared for full-fledged employment upon graduation. Companies seeking to recruit also give them preference over their peers who have not undergone TVET.
As SME Association president Ding Hong Sing pointed out, the collaboration between educational institutions and businesses in the TVET initiative has resulted in higher salaries for those in the programme over university graduates with degrees.
But in Malaysia, it is also a spaghetti bowl of strategies that lead everywhere and nowhere.
Today, almost every ministry has its own TVET programme. “As a result, there are too many certifications in the market,” according to an analysis on TVET@sia, and online journal for TVET in Asia.
Over and above that, the private sector is crowded with companies that offer undergraduates internship under their individual TVET initiatives.
More than 1.2 million micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) now have a TVET programme, with the micro enterprises accounting for 78.6% of them, according to data from SME Corp Malaysia, the agency that coordinates the implementation of government-related development programmes for SMEs.
What needs to be done
In a note issued recently, the think tank Penang Institute said a more innovative approach that would expand partnerships would be useful.
In other words, ensuring that there is a mentor for the undergraduate would be essential, as would project-based learning.
These, it said, should be included in every TVET programme.
As Ding pointed out, “there is no point in accumulating degrees and certifications if you cannot perform well in your career”.
Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta) chairman William Ng said businesses prefer graduates who have undergone TVET over those who have not, even if they have excelled academically.
Ng told FMT Business there is a need to debunk the myth that a university degree is the be all and end all for job seekers.
“In many advanced countries, such as Germany and Japan, technicians earn higher salaries than professionals who have university degrees,” he said.
Unfortunately, he said, Malaysian parents are still overly enamoured by those with university degrees and some have even discouraged their children from signing up for TVET.
As a result, he said, there are many institutions that do not have enough students in their TVET programmes.
Ng said an initiative that Samenta is pursuing is to guarantee employment for TVET graduates by matching technical schools with businesses that require the skills that these schools provide. “This way, they can be immediately absorbed into the workforce,” he added.
Over and above that, there are ongoing discussions on an initiative for the government to partially underwrite the fees for TVET courses. “Hopefully, this will encourage school leavers to join institutions that have a TVET programme,” he said.
Digital revolution
Challenges remain for SMEs in the TVET programme. For instance, SME owners are reluctant to go digital “when the old ways are still working well”, Ng said.
Few have taken the digitalisation matching grant of up to RM5,000 provided by the government.
The labour crunch is another problem. “Most SMEs have trouble hiring people with the right skills,” he said. “They require weeks of expensive training before they can start work.”
But the effort to promote TVET continues, with grants now being offered by many government agencies.
Only time will tell if this is the right way forward.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2023/07/11/orderly-approach-to-tvet-the-way-to-go/