Govt To Send More Students Abroad For Tvet Programmes

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Higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir taking a photo with Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (with thumbs up) as well as students and guests at an event in Tokyo, Japan, today. (Bernama pic)PETALING JAYA: The government plans to send more students abroad to pursue studies in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to strengthen the local TVET sector.
Deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this was part of the government’s push to change the perception that those pursuing such studies are academically disadvantaged.
“Although TVET has been around since before independence, efforts by previous governments were not focussed,” he said in a Bernama report.
“We want to change the perception of parents and society so that they know this field promises good employment and careers,” he said at a meet-and-greet session with about 70 Malaysian students studying in Tokyo today.
He did not mention the countries currently hosting Malaysian TVET students nor their number.
Zahid, who is also the National TVET Council chairman, said the government is considering increasing the cost of living allowance for students pursuing TVET abroad, including in Japan.
Zahid, who is on a seven-day working visit to Japan starting yesterday, said the government also intends to transform Universiti Kuala Lumpur into the country’s main TVET university.
He said the country’s new direction for TVET will be announced on June 2 in conjunction with National TVET Day.
Last October, the Malaysian Employers Federation called for an industry-led policy on TVET to be put in place to ensure that TVET graduates meet the skills requirement for employment.
The current national dual training system programme calls for 70%-80% of practical training to be held in the workplace with the remaining 20%-30% in technical institutions.
The dual-training system was introduced in 2005 to develop skills through a structured TVET apprenticeship scheme intertwined with industry, initially with GLCs. - FMT

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