NEWS: Making grads marketable

UNDERGRADUATES pursuing courses that are deemed to be “not so popular” at public universities will soon be able to undergo training to enhance their marketability.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin said the Human Resources Ministry was in the midst of formulating modules to train these graduates to ensure they were able to secure employment.

“We understand that there are students who pursue courses that are not in high demand such as History, Geography and Islamic studies. It is a fact that those who pursue these courses find it more difficult to get jobs.

“Since we still want graduates in these fields, we have requested the Human Resources Ministry to come up with programmes which will increase their chances of getting jobs,” he said.
Khaled says the Human Resources Ministry is in the midst of formulating modules to train the graduates

However, Khaled did not elaborate the types of modules that were being prepared or where the students would be able to undergo training.

He was earlier asked if universities and employer groups had been working together to produce marketable graduates to help reduce the number of unemployed graduates in not-so-sought-after disciplines.

“Since we have democratised education, we cannot tell the universities to stop offering these courses. In fact, we need the universities to continue offering such programmes as we need historians and specialists in these fields,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universitas Riau Indonesia on joint research and student-lecturer exchange programme.

Also present was UKM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin.

On a separate matter, Khaled said Asean universities should form a partnership similar to that created by European institutions of higher learning through the “Bologna Process” which has paved the way for the formation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

“There is so much that universities in Asean can learn from one another. For a start, they can collaborate to save the language of the natives in this part of the world and work together to develop the Malay language for research and development purposes,” he said.

(The Bologna Process aims to create a EHEA by 2010, in which students can choose from a wide and transparent range of high quality courses and benefit from smooth recognition procedures. The three priorities of the Bologna process are the introduction of the three-cycle system (bachelor/master/doctorate), quality assurance and recognition of qualifications and periods of study).

Khaled also urged universities to publicise their research work for common benefit.

“This would also enhance your own reputation and status. It is also my hope that department heads in universities will encourage their lecturers to do more research,” he added.