Graduates...

"Actually from my perspective, we're not producing enough graduates - tertiary enrollment in Malaysia is sub-30%, compared to an average 60%-70% in the OECD. Tertiary education empirically is one of the biggest factors in raising lifetime incomes.

But the problem of skills mismatch is real. Local business surveys are consistent in pointing this out, and I've much anecdotal evidence that supports this as well.

While I won't exempt universities from being part of the problem, it goes deeper than that - as they say, garbage in garbage out (full disclosure: my wife is a senior lecturer at a local U).

We have to relook the approach to education right from the bottom. There's too much emphasis on rote learning and regurgitation, which leaves final graduates without the cognitive and non-cognitive skills to deal with dynamic workplace environments. We also have to ensure that parents are fully involved in the education process, something that has also been empirically proven to improve learning outcomes.

As my old CEO used to say about local graduates - can't read, can't write, can't speak, and won't listen. That might sound harsh, but unfortunately too close to the truth."


taken from econsmalaysia.blogspot.com