The case of graduate employability in Malaysia
© Flickr / Shafiq Mohamud Fouzi
In 2007, a total of 168,880 students graduated from Malaysian universities. In 2008, 86,434 graduated with a bachelor’s degree. A large proportion of them remain unemployed. The percentage of new graduates looking for jobs fell from 31% in 2006 to 24% in 2008.
Job seekers cited the shortages of jobs as one reason for being unemployed. This was disputed by employers who attributed graduate unemployment to a lack of generic skills and serious inadequacy in terms of work-related competences.
In revisiting the role of the university as a centre for developing intellectual, creative and other higher-level skills, as opposed to supplying workers for industry, universities have been accused of producing unemployable graduates.
To tackle this issue, the Ministry of Higher Education has moved to introduce entrepreneurship into conventional subject courses by revising the curriculum to include small business management, analytical skills, team work and proficiency in English. This will reportedly be an uphill struggle. Graduates and academics alike believe that while universities can organize extracurricular programmes and activities to help students improve their social and interpersonal skills, such skills cannot be easily taught at university.
However, while there is broad agreement on the need for changes in “curriculum alignment”, the emphasis and priorities differ. Employers want universities to move away from teaching “irrelevant” subjects and focus instead on training students for the demands of the workplace. Academics partly agree with this, but also warn against the danger of neglecting the key contribution of universities to political, social, cultural and community development and transformation.
Furthermore, responsibility for nurturing qualities identified with “employability” lies with the entire education system, from pre-school to tertiary levels. This calls for better planning and coordination among all education providers in preparing and motivating young people to become responsible and productive citizens.
