KUALA LUMPUR: Higher learning educational institutions should offer courses in line with the Industrial Revolution 4.0 and 5.0 that provide ready employment.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan urged them to provide courses tailored to encourage constant upskilling and reskilling of labour.
"This way, they will not be left jobless after graduation.
"Institutions should do away with subjects such as business administration or management, which are outdated and should be replaced.
"My ministry found that post-Covid-19 pandemic, most of the jobs on offer cannot employ first-generation graduates as their degrees or diplomas have become obsolete," Saravanan said after launching the Mynext initiative by Talentcorp at the Sime Darby Convention Centre in Bukit Kiara.
He added that many graduates he had spoken to told him they had been jobless for five years and were struggling to find work relevant to their qualifications.
"The biggest challenge is not unemployment as our unemployment rate has dropped from 5.3 per cent to 3.9 per cent.
"The biggest challenge is mismatching jobs. First generation graduates are not getting the right jobs, especially those with business and administration degrees.
"If they want to survive, they need to reskill and upskill every time, or their degree or diploma will be void five to ten years down the road," said Saravanan.
Apart from acquiring technical skills, he recommended youths to pursue medicine, engineering and architecture.
He cited how many business degree holders often ended up being salesmen, with the fancy name of business development manager or executive.
"When they cannot find jobs, the ministry spends millions to upgrade them with soft skills.
"The Higher Education Ministry needs to look into this matter and start offering subjects that are relevant, with a change in the education system."
He explained that the Mynext by TalentCorp programme was a multi-ministry collaboration to help find jobs for graduates in Malaysia.
"Mynext Talent assists students and individuals in the workforce, while Mynext University supports institutions of higher learning, with the aim of developing trainees to meet industry demands.
"Mynext Company aims to support the national workforce by integrating talent solutions and analytics onto one platform to connect the talent supply with future jobs," he said.
Up to last month, Saravanan said more than 170,000 talents across various education institutions had registered for the programme.
