‘IPTs-corporate tie-up vital in promoting job-skills matching’
Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development Sarawak Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn is calling upon institutions of higher education (IPTs) to work closely with industry players to promote job-skill alignment.
“As Sarawak is focused on enhancing economic performance and aspires to become a high-value knowledge economy built on a skilled and high-performing workforce, higher education institutions will need to work more closely with industries to promote job-skill alignment, combining labour market data with industry input to define the skills likely to be needed for tomorrow’s job.
“Upskilling, reskilling or multiskilling of our local talents is among the platforms that we could utilise towards reducing our dependency on hiring expatriates,” he said in his speech for the launch of ‘Industry Continuous Professional Development Programme’ (iCPD) – Series 1 at Meritz Hotel here yesterday.
Elaborating, the minister said research had shown that employer investments in upgrading the skills of their employees had been delivering strong returns.
“In addition to that, in order to make the most impactful investments, education ecosystem stakeholders need to better understand what skills are readily available within the adult population and where the greatest skill gaps exist. This needs to be complemented with information about which skills are in greatest demand in the labour market and how to provide the appropriate reskilling pathways toward new employment opportunities,” he said.
Sagah added that that his ministry’s vision was for Sarawak to have competitive talents to drive the state’s aspirations.
“But, how can we drive these aspirations, or meet the demands of new economy? The answer is to start with quality education. Quality education means that our children must complete their education journey, from pre-school, primary education to secondary education and finally, tertiary education. Attaining tertiary education should be a priority among our youths. It is through higher education that we can have access to better employment and thus improve the livelihood of our family.”
On the iCPD, Roland commended it for its objective of improve local workers’ competitiveness and employability, whilst meeting the industry skills-set demands.
Some 120 people representing 60 companies here attended the programme.
It was organised by Sagah’s ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of International Trade, Industry and Investment Sarawak (Mintred); Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) as well as Regional Corridor Development Authority (Recoda).
Also present at the event were Sagah’s deputy Datuk Francis Harden Hollis and the ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Anielia Siam, Recoda’s director of corporate services division Dr Hardysyam Junaidi, MPC director Mohamad Muzaffar Abdul Hamid, Sarawak Skills executive director Hallman Sabri, and Department of Skills Development Sarawak Region director Donny Sadin Kachon.
Attaining tertiary education should be a priority among our youths. It is through higher education that we can have access to better employment and thus improve the livelihood of our family.
Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn