Ministry of Higher Education Launch Two University Two Industry Program.
PUTRAJAYA, Jan. 18 - The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOE) will implement the program Two University Two Industry (2U2i) in a few selected Public University (UA) starting this year with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) as the pioneer.
Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said that the program is to enhance the marketability, preparation and skills of university students for the working world.
"Experience in the industry is very important to produce holistic graduates as well as to achieve the target in the Malaysian Education Blueprint (MEB PT)," he said when speaking at the 2016 Higher Education Minister New Year Message here, today.
The ceremony was attended by KPT staff, University’s Board of Directors, Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors and UA‘s senior management. The representatives of the Student Representative Council (MPP) UA, Polytechnic and Community College staff and students were also present during the ceremony.
Idris, in his message also said that Malaysia will become the first country to implement recognition and credit transfer for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) towards flexible education.
He said the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) was mandated to develop a MOOCs platform to allow all MOOCs courses from Malaysia and abroad are registered under the platform and given credit.
"Students can study flexibly at several universities within and outside the country that are registered under the MOOCs online and credits can be transferred for the award of certificates, diplomas and degrees," he said.
In conjunction with the theme of this year's mandate ‘flexible education’ , he said that MQA widens the implementation of the program Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) for the award of credit, known as APEL (C) to allow students to transfer credits from their working experience.
He said that APEL (C) allows graduates to have a more flexible period of study.
Moreover, Idris also announced that students from ASEAN countries have the opportunity to attend full-time study program in three premier polytechnics in Ipoh, Shah Alam and Johor Baharu starting this year.
"Polytechnic targeted the admission of foreign students up to two per cent enrolment by 2020," he said.
Meanwhile, Idris said that the Community College will lead the construction of low cost houses using composite technology which will cost about RM20, 000.
"The pilot project of 50 housing units will be built in Besut, Terengganu. The sites have been identified and foundation work will begin soon," he said, adding that the construction of the Industrialised Building System (IBS) is expected to take about two weeks.
