KUALA LUMPUR: The Higher Education Ministry will offer loans for final-year students to participate in the professional certification programmes next year, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Monday (Nov 27).
The Higher Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin (pic), said the government has provided RM15mil in funding for this purpose.
"This is to boost the level of graduate marketability," he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2024 at the committee stage for the ministry in the house.
Based on the official data of the Graduates Tracer Study, he said 29,000 graduates had not landed jobs six months after graduating in 2022.
However, he said the unemployment rate of graduates has decreased to 3.7% in 2022 compared to 4.1% in 2021.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Khaled said the ministry has identified several strategies, including continuous research investment, to determine the excellence of local universities rather than solely relying on international rankings.
The Dewan Rakyat then approved the estimated operating and development expenditures amounting to RM16,339,467,900 allocated to the MOHE in the 2024 Budget. – Bernama
