KUALA LUMPUR: The Higher Education Ministry will focus on intensifying efforts for more programmes to increase the marketability of university graduates.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said this was due to an oversupply of graduates compared to current industry demand.
Citing the medical field as an example, he said the challenges faced now are comprehensive, covering aspects of job opportunities in industry, investment and government administration.
"If we are to look at the medical field, public universities are producing some 1,300 medical graduates a year. Along with private medical graduates, the total number of medical graduates does not exceed 3,000.
"But among them are medical graduates from foreign universities and we cannot stop students who want to pursue the courses of their choice,” he told a media conference at the Securities Commission (SC) on Monday (April 10).
Khaled said graduates also need to be provided with entrepreneurial knowledge to enable them to generate income and not just depend on the job search process.
He also urged universities to be more involved in mobilising various efforts to increase the marketability of graduates.
On the government's move to control political activities in universities, he believes that university vice-chancellors can play a role in controlling and striking a balance on the matter.
Earlier, Khaled officiated the Capital Market Graduate Programme (CMGP) which involved the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the ministry and SC. - Bernama
