UniMAP Engineering Graduates Accepted by Industry
Kangar, 19 March – Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) has proven that its engineering graduates are well received by the industry and have remained as engineers or in engineering technology after they have graduated.
UniMAP Vice Chancellor Dato’ Prof. Dr. Zul Azhar Zahid Jamal said that according to the statistics provided by the Centre for Industrial & Governmental Collaboration (CIGC), the percentage of UniMAP graduates landing jobs is more than 80 percent every year.
According to him, if itemised by sector, 31.38 percent of graduates work in the manufacturing sector, 19.4 percent in the scientific and technical sector, 11 percent in the construction sector and six percent in the information and communications sector.
“Generally, this data proves that UniMAP Engineering graduates work in accordance with their respective fields of study at the university, namely material engineering, environmental engineering, construction engineering and computer and communication engineering,” he said here today.
He was commenting on Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow's statement which said that the tendency for engineering graduates to work in sectors unrelated to their fields of study is a worrying trend.
Among others, Chow said it would be sad to see that graduates with exposure to skilled labour choosing to work in other sectors such as insurance and marketing where it would be a loss for the country.
According to Dato’ Prof. Dr. Zul Azhar, undoubtedly the trend is there. However, UniMAP as an engineering-based university has always ensured that the teaching curriculum offered coincides and is in line with industry needs.
He explained that this includes appointing visiting lecturers among industry players and providing infrastructure, machinery, equipment and laboratories at par with those available in the industry.
He added that UniMAP have not only gained confidence in local industry but the university graduates also received recognitions from international companies and the presence of UniMAP alumni around the world is a testament to this.
“Recently, Clarivate Analytics and the Malaysian Ministry of Education in the Research and Innovation Performance of Malaysian Universities 2013-2017 also reported that UniMAP is well accepted by the industrial sector in the United States and China, especially by robotics-based companies.
“With these achievements, UniMAP will continue to be committed in producing competitive engineering graduates who will be contributing to the country's development agenda in line with the university's mission,” he said.
