UTM Vice-Chancellor' Message to the World: Work In-Silo No More, Upgrade Skills, Take Action

JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia, Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Professor Datuk Ts Dr Ahmad Fauzi Ismail was invited by the Government of Australia to speak at the World Energy Forum in Sydney, Australia, held from 12th July to 14th July 2022. He was speaking as one of the panel speakers for the session on 'Workforce and Skills'.

The Australian government extended the invitation to Professor Fauzi because of his outstanding achievement in bringing UTM to a greater height, especially in leading UTM in producing quality graduates for the Energy sector by making the university curriculum responsive to the needs of the energy-related industries. 

Work Closely with Industries

When speaking to the forum participants, he said that Malaysia had led the production of the number of energy managers required by a nation.

In responding to the question by the forum moderator, on the reasons for Malaysia's outstanding performance on the highest number of renewable energy workers in Indo-Pacific countries, he responded that close collaboration with the industries is the key to achieving it.

In UTM, for example, students can work with the industries through the platform of the Consortium of Academia, Industry, Government and Society for Synergistic Transformation or the acronym AIMS4STAR. UTM has created this platform for all relevant parties, especially industries, to make the university's future graduates ready to work in actual settings of the future workplace.

UTM students are exposed to the industries' work culture and learn to understand the actual work in industries. UTM strongly believes universities should collaborate closely with relevant parties to provide necessary training to ensure that future graduates are skillfully prepared for the appropriate workforce.

Upskilling and Reskilling, APEL and Micro-credential

The UTM Vice-Chancellor also highlighted the need for graduates' upskilling and reskilling programmes to meet current and future workforce requirements. Some graduates will need to upgrade their skills through the upskilling and reskilling process to ensure they are marketable and capable of doing actual work in today's industrial scenario.

In Malaysia, the platform of Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning or APEL was introduced by the Malaysian government to recognise the previous experience gained by an individual to enrol as a university student.

APEL will likely be able to change the higher education landscape that traditionally relied on formal academic qualifications, such as having a Bachelor's degree to pursue a Master's degree. Through APEL, an individual may be able to enrol as a Master's degree student without having a Bachelor's degree by recognising his or her working experience.

Besides, the Micro-credential (MC) platform can be used to transfer credits from MCs taken by an individual to shorten his or her study period. MC is gaining popularity because of the concept of "chunking" a particular massive course to smaller ones (piece-by-piece) using several modules, which is likely to be favoured by those individuals who are too busy with work.

"Walk the Talk"

Speaking to the audience during the forum, the UTM Vice-Chancellor asserted that thoughts and preaches should be translated into action. He is popular for his strong statement of "Walk the Talk" that he strongly believes in and practices. As a university vice-chancellor, he does not want the university lecturers or staff to merely 'talk' without acting upon it. His messages delivered in the forum session were crucial to ensure the sustainability of higher education, especially for the Energy sector.

What he conveyed to the forum audience can be summarised as follows: Work In-Silo No More, Upgrade Skills, and Take Action. These three critical points should be remembered by all parties, especially the community of academics, to ensure the relevance of higher education institutions for other parties, especially industries, governments, and societies.

About Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)

UTM is a leading innovation-driven entrepreneurial research university in engineering, science, and technology in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru, and Pagoh, Malaysia. It is renowned for being at the forefront of engineering and technological knowledge and expertise. UTM operates based on the core values of Integrity, Synergy, Excellence, and Sustainability. These values guide UTM community practices, and they are embedded in the strategic thrusts that propel the University to greatness. For more information about UTM visit utm.my