Incentives and Initiatives Provided for the Implementation of Employability Skills in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET): The Malaysian Experience

• Main Author: Anuwar Ali,
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: LC5201 Education extension. Adult education. Continuing education; LC5800 Distance education
• Online Access: http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/600/1/TVET_Saudi.pdf; http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/600/2/TVET_Saudi_slides.pdf; http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/600/

Today’s globalised and highly competitive environment calls for a workforce that is skilful, efficient and innovative. This is an imperative for any nation that seeks to build a knowledge-based economy via highly competent and well-educated human capital. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET), now commonly considered part of mainstream education, creates pathways for enhancing competencies and thus, can help to hone employability skills necessary in creating a high-income economy. In Malaysia, TVET is recognised as a vital avenue for raising the capacity for knowledge and the right value systems, as well as for enculturating a lifelong learning society. The role of open and distance learning (ODL) in TVET is still relatively recent in many countries, including Malaysia, but their integration indicate a feasible system for sustaining greater access to educational opportunities for larger sections of the society. This paper will explore the concept of TVET, its main features in Malaysia and incentives and initiatives available that aim to carry TVET to greater heights in this country. This paper will also discuss the integration of TVET and ODL and illustrate how an ODL institution like Open University Malaysia (OUM) can leverage on its technologies, flexibility and accessibility to complement TVET-based programmes. For Malaysia, with less than a decade left to achieve Vision 2020, TVET will be crucial not only in ensuring a properly skilled workforce, but also in facing ever newer challenges in higher education. (Abstract by author)