THE World Young Scientist Summit (WYSS) 2024, focusing on global TVET collaboration strategy and exchange of ideas, saw some 30 participants representing Malaysia to the four-day event held in Wenzhou, China.
It was the second consecutive year that Malaysia was invited to the prestigious event, which saw a congregation of 400 delegates from various countries.
With one of the biggest number of international delegates, Malaysia's representatives were from the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council (MTVET), Department of Skills Development, Department of Human Resources, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTEM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Tafe College, Sultan Azlan Shah Polytechnic, Industrial Training Institutes from Kuantan, Pasir Gudang and Kota Kinabalu, as well as Malaysia Automotive Robotics & IoT Institute (MARii) and Advance Retro Solution (ARS).
The delegation was headed by Dr Azmi Ahmad, who is the deputy director-general (development) of the Department of Skills Development.
Besides keynote speech, expert report, case study and sharing session from industrial and global academic representatives, the forum was enriched with visitation to the top-notched TVET technology showcase in Yalong, covering smart manufacturing, IR 4.0 technology, IOT and facility maintenance, among others.
In his speech, Azmi expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Beifang Automotive School for their hospitality.
"There is good potential for international collaboration between Beifang, Beifang Automotive School and Malaysia TVET for lecturer and student exchange programmes.
"With excellent training facilities and lecturing resources, Malaysia students could have the opportunity to explore new automotive technology," he said.
At the same time, students from Beifang Shijiazhuang are very excited and look forward to starting their study exchange programme in Malaysia.
"TVET is now borderless. Collaboration across regions would complement the training landscape to be more competitive and effective," Azmi added.
Via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China aims to assist in transferring their technology to the rest of the world through international collaboration strategies.
Azmi also said Malaysia could leverage the technology and support from Yalong and the strong industrial and academic network via BRI.
The Malaysia-China collaboration was also strengthened with the Letter of Intent (LoI) signing between Universiti Sultan Zainal Abdin (UniSZA), Yalong and ARS.
According to Prof Dr Saiful Bahri Mohamed, dean of UniSZA’s Faculty of Innovative Design & Technology, there are two students doing internship in Yalong, and one in ARS.
"This was a good result after the first visit and ARS, together with Yalong, would support UniSZA in technology transfer and international programmes in smart manufacturing and mechatronics."
This year, significant strides were made in Malaysia-China international TVET collaboration.
Following last year’s WYSS participation and TVET study visit, numerous meetings and site visits have taken place for Malaysian representatives in China.
Recently, ARS concluded Malaysia’s first overseas industrial attachment training with the Centre for Instructor and Advanced Skill Training (CIAST) at Yalong last month.
Currently, three groups of lecturers from GiatMara and Mara Skills and Technical division are undergoing training in smart manufacturing, facility maintenance and IoT technology.
By the end of November, 24 students with lecturers from Kolej Yayasan Pelajaran Johor and Johor Skills would be attending the industrial automation training in China.
Early next month, 10 students with lecturers from Universiti Malaysia Kelantan will be joining the smart agriculture training in China.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Nizam Ahmad, Secretariat of MTVETstressed on the importance of collaboration between industry and academics.
MTVET is currently monitoring thousands of TVET institutions in Malaysia across 12 ministries.
