VIRTUAL TOUR
2011
23 MayMINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES COMMENDS UNIVERSITY CO-OP PROGRAMME MINISTER SAID MORE INTERNSHIP TRAINING NECESSARY TO BRIDGE MALAYSIAN EMPLOYMENT GAP
Kuala Lumpur, 23 May, 2011 - Malaysian Minister of Human Resources Datuk Dr S Subramaniam commended the UCSI University Co-Operative Education Programme while speaking at the University’s Co-Op Partners Appreciation Luncheon and Fourth Annual Career Fair. The ceremony took place in the South Wing of the University’s Kuala Lumpur campus in Cheras and included speeches by both Datuk Dr Subramaniam and UCSI University Vice Chancellor, Dr Robert Bong. The event honoured the University’s industrial partners and marked the start of the week-long career fair, featuring representatives from nearly 50 companies.
The UCSI University Co-Operative Education Programme requires students to complete a minimum two-month long internship for each year of study with one of the University’s nearly 1,000 industrial partners. The programme guarantees each UCSI University students with at least six months of practical work experience by graduation and helps minimise the gap between university life and working.
In his speech, Datuk Subramaniam said the University’s Co-Op programme is “highly commendable.” He said there is currently a mismatch in Malaysia between the number of skilled graduates and industrial needs and internships, like those offered through the University’s Co-Op programme, help reduce that gap.
“[Internships identify] the needs of the industry at that particular time and make sure that the students who come through our system of education will be able to use that basic knowledge which they’ve acquired and optimise it to meet the demands of the industry at that particular time,” he said. Dr Bong spoke of the University’s support of the government agenda and called on the University’s industrial partners to sponsor the education of individual students in exchange for that student to work for the company for a determined number of years.
“Sponsorships strengthen Malaysia’s workforce by ensuring the nation’s brightest students stay in the country to use their talents here,” he said. “As part of the government’s Vision 2020 to transform Malaysia into a developed nation by 2020, we need strong, highly-educated graduates with top-notch skills to make this vision a reality.”
Datuk Dr Subramaniam also spoke of the Malaysian Government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) to transform Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020 and said it was crucial to produce more highly-skilled graduates to make this happen.
UCSI University and its umbrella organisation, the UCSI Group, are currently pioneering two projects within the ETP. With Entry Point Project 10, the University is working to provide high-quality training and incentives to workers in the nation’s hospitality and tourism industry to make Malaysia an international tourism destination and improve the wages and quantity of employees in the field. With Entry Point Project 14, the Group is developing a 160-acre education and tourism township in Bandar Springhill, Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan and plans to develop it into an international destination for health tourism and education.
UCSI University was the first private institute of higher education in Malaysia to incorporate internships as a compulsory subject and pioneered its Co-Operative Education Programme in 2004. The Programme boasts a high success rate with 94 percent of employers indicating they would rehire their student interns and 99 percent of students satisfied with their job placement.
