ILSM to become a centre of excellence
SKILLED human capital is the defining force for the performance and success of an organisation, said Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.
As such, efforts to empower skills for human capital and competitiveness, including the setting up of the Malaysia Statistical Training Institute (ILSM), was timely in realising these goals.
“The establishment of the institute is a long-term investment with high impact to prepare for the new profession of data scientists in bracing for the ever-developing digital technology revolution.
“I appreciate the efforts and I am thankful to the Federal Government, which had chosen Sungkai, Perak, for the location of the institute.
“Sungkai has a professional training institute. It is hoped that the institute will continue to develop and acknowledged at the international level,“said Sultan Nazrin at the launching of the institute on Thursday.
Chief statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the institute did not only provide training for staff from the Statistics Department, but also those from other government agencies and corporate companies.
“We also provide tailor-made courses. Collaborations, especially in data-sharing with agencies, also allows the institute to be used for research and surveys.
“When we talk about modernisation of statistics, it covers a wide array of aspects, including analytical skills and a more efficient system.
“We are also moving towards making statistics more appealing to the public by improving our presentation, for instance, using accompanying graphics instead of providing numbers.
“We have to constantly formulate better ways of communicating with people when carrying out surveys to ensure that the intended data is obtained, which will then help with the tabulation, and later serve as guides for the government in decision-making,“he said in an interview with the
New Straits Times.
He said the institute provided the avenue to acquire and improve the skills needed with facilities including computer labs, lecture halls and library (with gallery of history of statistics in Malaysia) as well as accomodation for participants.
He said to encourage knowledgesharing, ILSM had established cooperation with higher learning institutes, public training institutes and industry partners to allow them to provide data to ILSM for education and research.
Such collaborations, he said, enabled ILSM to explore knowledge in seven areas: survey methodolgy, survey operation, economy, demography, social, environment and data science.
“Furthermore, in bringing up our capacity building, we will host a prestigious gathering of the 62nd ISI World Statistics Congress at Kuala Lumpur in 2019.
This congress will create an opportunity for more than 2,500 statistical expertise and data scientists to gather and share new innovations and insights in statistical science”.
“As such, the congress will uplift the landscapes of the statistical systems and strengthen the networking among statistical communities at local and international levels.”