Published: Sunday October 7, 2012 MYT 5:02:00 PM
Updated: Sunday October 7, 2012 MYT 7:50:15 PM

Nor Mohamed: Govt confident there will be no oversupply of professionals by 2020

By DERRICK VINESH

KEPALA BATAS: The Government is confident that there would not be an oversupply of professionals when Malaysia attains a developed nation status by 2020.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said careful planning had been made to strike a balance between the demand and supply of professionals.

"There would be an oversupply if we do not plan well.

"But, we at the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and the Human Resources Ministry always plan ahead," he said after opening Allianze University College of Medical Sciences (AUCMS)-Maybank Education Fund for Medicine at Kompleks Budi Penyayang here Sunday.

Nor Mohamed said the Government had identified the demand for professionals in the various sectors through its transformation programmes such as the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that was initiated in 2009 to catapult the country to a high-income nation by 2020.

"We know with a very good estimate the type of jobs that will be created, the amount of jobs created and the skills that will be required.

"So, all that we have to do is to make sure that the professionals and the skilled workers created match roughly with the demand," he said.

Sensing the need for vocationally trained workers by 2020, Nor Mohamed said the government had initiated necessary measures, including by bringing vocational education to the mainstream of the education syllabus.

Previously, he said, vocational training was often treated like a stepchild, but not anymore now.

"For example, a welder who completes step one to step six of his training could earn about RM2,000 a month.But, his salary could go up to RM9,000, if he completed step seven.

"This is what we are trying to do, by upgrading our skilled workers' qualifications," he said.

He noted that almost 60 percent of the students who entered the job market in Germany were vocationally trained.

Earlier, in his speech, Nor Mohamed said the country would need 16,000 doctors in the public sector by 2020, taking into account a 1:600 doctor-population ratio.

At present, he said, there were 29 medical faculties in public higher learning institutions and 18 such faculties in private higher learning institutions that produced a total of 2,000 doctors a year.

Nor Mohamed congratulated AUCMS for emerging as the first private university to come up with a RM125mil Education Fund for Medicine that would be offered to those pursuing medical degrees in the university.

News

Published: Sunday October 7, 2012 MYT 5:02:00 PMUpdated: Sunday October 7, 2012 MYT 7:50:15 PM

Nor Mohamed: Govt confident there will be no oversupply of professionals by 2020

By DERRICK VINESH

Published: Sunday October 7, 2012 MYT 5:02:00 PM
Updated: Sunday October 7, 2012 MYT 7:50:15 PM