Are you ready for the job market?
A degree alone is not enough to succeed in today’s competitive jobmarket. To give undergrads the extra edge, local public universities have integrated soft skills into their programmes.
With an estimated 100,000 students set to graduate from public universities this year – not counting the thousands completing their studies at private institutions and overseas – the company above should not have a problem finding a suitable candidate to fill its vacancy.
Unfortunately, as many employers have oft complained, most Malaysian graduates lack the necessary soft skills vital for work such as communication, problem solving and team work skills.
According to Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Bakar, it is this lack of soft skills which is largely responsible for the difficulty faced by some 90,000 young people in finding employment in Malaysia.
To address this problem, the Higher Education Ministry recently introduced a soft skills module to prepare students for the world of work.
The module is a combination of all the ideas and programmes from the 17 public institutions nationwide, says Assoc Prof Thanthawi Jauhari Ahmad who is head of the Career, Counselling and Alumni centre at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
The standardised soft skills module allows the universities to share their best practices and enhance existing programmes at the same time, he says.
“In UiTM, we start from Day One to prepare students for work.
“This new module adds detail to our current student development programmes.”
At the university, he adds, employers’ expectations have always been emphasised.
“Our graduates are more marketable than their counterparts fro other universities due to their strength of character, entrepreneurship skills and good command of English; our course are tailored to market needs,” he says.
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