KUCHING: Vocational colleges in Sarawak are projected to produce 6,246 graduates of Diploma Vokasional Malaysia (DVM) by 2021.
Kuching Vocational College director Arni Suhaili stated that these graduates would fulfil the skilled workforce programme, especially in realising the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) vision.
“The marketability of vocational college graduates last year reached 97.02 percent, and most graduates have been employed in the fields they studied, especially during their industrial training or internship.
“From Kuching Vocational College itself, Rufina Reana Raphaella, who graduated from the Culinary Arts programme in 2017, is working as a Pastry Chef assistant on the Regent Seven Sea Navigator 6-star Cruise with a monthly salary of RM5,000.
“She is one of the graduates who proved that vocational college graduates are able to get a job based on their field of study,” she said at the Kuching Vocational College Excellence Award 2019 ceremony here yesterday.
Arni also mentioned that strategic cooperation between the college and various parties was growing.
“Currently, there are five companies that have signed the Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with
Kuching Vocational College and seven other companies will follow suit.
“The recognition and cooperation from the industry has had an impact on the success of Kuching Vocational College in ensuring that the college’s academic agenda can compete with other educational institutions in Malaysia,” she said.
The vocational education transformation, implemented since 2012, aims to give students with moderate academic achievements a chance to continue their education in the skills field to help ease their path to job marketability.
Promoting vocational education will also accelerate efforts to provide a capable, skilled and high-income workforce to make Malaysia a prosperous country by 2025.
In Sarawak, there are six vocational colleges and a technical secondary school. This vocational field has a balanced theory and practical component with the objective to help produce semi-professionals such as technicians or engineering assistants in the fields of engineering and non-engineering.
Recently, a total of 154 students from Kuching Vocational College received their DVM at the 4th Vocational College Convocation.
