Polytechnic and vocational studies hot ticket in career market

In an interview during the launch of The Star Education Fair 2015, Deputy Education Minister II P. Kamalanathan said, “Time has changed and technical and vocational education is the ‘in’ thing now."

Kamalanathan spoke of a recent conference in New Delhi where he was told that a psychiatrist with a PhD would charge his client £250 (RM1,375) per hour. “But a person who knows how to change roof tiles is getting £300 (RM1,650) per hour."

He also was quoted of saying, "Forget about becoming lawyers, engineers or doctors.”

During the tabling of Budget 2015, the Malaysian government has allotted RM50 million to Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) to implement technical, vocational education and training (TVET) programmes this year.

The government has also agreed to set aside a huge allocation to the Education Ministry for the placement of 10,000 students at technical and vocational colleges nationwide next year.

This allocation is apt as the country is still 46 per cent short of workers with technical and vocational skills. Last year, reports show that 28% of Malaysia’s 12 million workforce are highly skilled.

The government aims to achieve 33% in the high-skilled jobs category by 2015; and 50% by 2020.

Applications for polytechnic or vocational colleges can be done via UPU.

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• 28% of Malaysia’s 12 million workforce are highly skilled
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• 7 Malaysian polytechnic programmes receive accreditation from Canadian Technology Accreditation Board
• 50mil allotted for Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET)