High Quality Graduates Equals Better Employment Options

Malaysian universities are facing several challenges to meet industrial demand for skilled and employable graduates.

How important is a degree now? Well, the answer is really more focused on what a degree does for the individual. Many graduates have what is known as a ‘qualification mismatch’, which means one gets a degree but is hired in a field unrelated to the qualification they hold.

Therefore, we need to recognise that while a degree is important, qualifications and quality is equally, if not more, important than the degree. Professionals in the industry seem to agree. JobStreet.com and other employment agencies seem to agree that local universities and colleges need to pay strong attention to strict demands of academic excellence from students. If such a thing is in place, the professionals argue, this might result in a more favourable perception of the degree they confer.

Chook Yuh Yng, JobStreet’s country manager, suggests that many employers in Malaysia prefer graduates from universities abroad and are considered superior to their locally educated peers. This might be attributed to the perception that it is easy to graduate from local universities. She mentioned that in foreign universities, you can actually fail an exam and repeat until you pass. “This is something we need to look into because we need to control the output and the quality of our graduates. We have to make sure all our graduates are ready to compete in the job market” she added.

Another professional, P Kumanan who is a business development manager at Manpower Group, another recruitment agency, said that students play an important role and should be able to plan for their future before entering a university or a college. Students need to be serious about their plans and should check if their degrees are demanded in the employment market or not.

English language proficiency is a major contributor to not being able to secure a job within 6 months. This is something that employers find lacking in graduates from public universities. “That’s the reason they prefer graduates of private local universities as well as those who graduate from overseas institutions,” Kumanan said.

Last year, UM’s former vice-chancellor Ghuath Jasmon said that more than 400,000 Malaysian graduates were unemployed and it might get worst.