Islamic grads venture into new job opportunities
PETALING JAYA: Gone are the days when Islamic study graduates only end up becoming Zakat officers or religious teachers as they venture into new fields.
Paving the way are 29 students from various religious study backgrounds who are embarking on a four-week internship programme with 13 conglomerates, said Youth and Sports minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
The students will be doing their internship in fields not related to their studies such as Usuluddin, Arabic Language Study, Syariah Islamiah, as well as Quran and Sunnah.
“Religious study graduates often end up working as administrators in Islamic governing bodies and Islamic related companies like Tabung Haji and Zakat collection centres. Most end up as religious teachers and academicians. There is nothing wrong with that but we want to set a new trend so that these graduates can be more marketable,” said Khairy after officiating at the launching of the Islamic Studies Internship Programme at the International Youth Centre here, yesterday.
He said that an intervention was needed to save the nation’s religious study graduates from unemployment since their job scope is very limited if corporate companies only hire graduates based on their academic backgrounds. He added that in-house training would equip interns with the skills needed in the workforce.
Dubbed the Islamic Studies Internship Programme, 29 students were selected from hundreds of applicants through a series of interviews and selections.
These students from various international Islamic universities will undergo four-weeks of industrial training beginning yesterday with private and GLC companies.
Quran Sunnah student Salha Shafira Radzuan, 22, from Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco said that she could not wait to start her internship.
“I know that whatever I have studied will not help much in my industrial training, but I am planning to explore more throughout the programme,” she said.