75 000 New Grads Will Struggle To Find Jobs Says Minister

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Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad says about 116,000 graduates need to be given attention.BANGI: About 75,000 out of 300,000 fresh graduates are projected to encounter some challenges in finding jobs within six months after graduation following the impact of Covid-19, said Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad.
She said the ministry’s Graduate Tracer Study for 2019 showed that 41,161 graduates remained unemployed. With an additional 75,000 to graduate this year it is estimated that 116,161 graduates need to be given attention to further increase their marketability.
Noraini said that several steps had been implemented by the ministry to help affected graduates by providing funding assistance to those who want to pursue a tertiary education.
The funding assistance includes MyBrain Science, Higher Education Minister scholarships and financial assistance for students with disabilities, she said.
Job matching process for unemployed graduates, in collaboration with the Social Security Organisation (Socso) via the MyFutureJobs portal has also been implemented, Noraini said in her speech at the launch of the minister’s Career Advancement Programme by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
She added that the ministry is working together with the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional) by introducing a micro-financing scheme for students to help them grow and improve their businesses.
To assist new graduates, Noraini said the ministry has developed the Graduates Reference Hub for Employment and Training (GREaT) which offers services such as job matching, reskilling and upskilling programmes, as well as grants for further education and career counselling.
She said that a total of 189,543 out of 330,557 graduates managed to find employment within six months after graduation; 49,875 graduates are pursuing tertiary education, while 4,029 are undergoing training to improve skills and 13,943 are still waiting for job placement.
The career advancement programme will run from Oct 16 to Dec 31 at 20 selected public universities, polytechnics and community colleges while job placement for programme participants will start on Jan 1. - FMT

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