- Malaysia witnesses growing interest in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), with over 423,000 students enrolled in 2024, driven by industry-focused skill development.
- UniKL-BMI recently sent 102 students to China for a year-long railway engineering course, reflecting Malaysia’s push for specialized technical expertise.
- Despite high employability rates of 94.5 percent, efforts continue to shift public perception, promoting TVET as a respected and viable career path.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Malaysia is seeing a strong rise in popularity, with more and more students choosing trade-related training compared to conventional university degrees. This trend is indicative of an overall movement towards pragmatic, industry-focused education with greater employment and career prospects.
One of the good examples of such a trend is the recent effort made by Universiti Kuala Lumpur British Malaysian Institute (UniKL-BMI). 102 students left on a year-long practical railway engineering course at Liuzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College in southern China. The course, taught in English with supplemental Chinese language courses, would expose students to specialized skills in railway engineering, in line with Malaysia's increasing focus on developing a skilled pool of workers in this field.
The government of Malaysia has seen the need for TVET to contribute to the industrial needs of the country. In 2024, a total of 423,267 students were taking up TVET courses across 1,398 institutions in the country, which was a sharp increase from before. The employability of TVET graduates stood at a remarkable 94.5 percent, highlighting the success of these programs to equip students with the skills needed in the workplace.
To further reinforce the TVET sector, the government has allocated RM6.8 billion in the 2024 budget for development programs and another RM200 million recently approved. The funds are intended to improve the quality and relevancy of TVET education so that it can keep pace with the changing needs of industries like aerospace, electrical and electronics, chemicals and petrochemicals, the digital economy, and pharmaceuticals.
In spite of such advances, there continues to be an issue in changing public attitude. Most Malaysians continue to regard university education as the key to career success, resulting in misperceptions regarding the worth of TVET. Initiatives are being put in place to rebrand TVET as a credible and respectable career choice, highlighting its function in cultivating a technically capable and flexible workforce.
