Issues and challenges of technical and vocational education and training in Malaysia towards human capital development

To become a high-income economy, skilled workforce is vital. Under the concept of Human Capital Development (HCD), it is vital to provide effective training and education especially in technical and vocational education. The injection of education acquisition to the trainees will increase the performance, productivity and capability which translates into a good investment. As a result, it is important to increase the enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and raise the overall training quality since TVET has become crucial in these recent years for industries and the economy as a whole. This paper will discuss the overview and the course of TVET in Malaysia. The main thrust of this paper is to highlight the challenges that overlay the implementation of TVET in Malaysia. Hence, the development of Knowledge Worker (K-worker) and human capital will be realized

Exploring service and support needs in postgraduate education towards the higher education quality

Students’ support is needed in postgraduate education embracing many service areas towards quality education. In achieving excellent graduates for national transformation reality, it needs to be addressed at all levels including departmental and institutional. It is vital to create suitable environment for students’ studies to ensure the sustainable development and execution of outstanding research outcome. The paper identifies that one of the important factors in students’ development is to create proper support and services. Thus, a qualitative analysis has been conducted to postgraduate student to discover the main concern of the support and services offered in a Malaysian public university. This study involved semi-structured interviews and the sample was self-selecting. The study disclosed the most important needs and deprived services that should be improved

Supervisory patterns and practices: case studies at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom

The student-supervisor relationship is vital in PhD process. Past research had shown that only highly unusual graduate students successfully completed their research degree programs if the relationship with their supervisors is poor. There are many factors that could contribute to poor achievement of foreign students and one of the most important critical factors found which contributed to this problem is the weaknesses in supervision they receive. This research is to identify the patterns of supervision employed by supervisors and the best appropriate practices. This study is using the case study method where three PhD students from three major disciplines of study namely arts, science and social science were involved in this research. As a result, the research had developed the best effective way of student and supervisor relationship. In order to have better relationship between the both parties, they have no doubt to be involved in more regular meetings or discussion process and to go through certain levels before, during and after each meeting. This should be practiced by lecturers, students and especially the foreign students in order to optimize the effectiveness of the student and supervisor's relationship

Pembayaran Balik Pinjaman Pelajaran MARA

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk memahami masalah pembayaran balik pinjaman pelajaran MARA yang berkaitan dengan punca permasalahan dan juga langkah mengatasi masalah yang wujud. Kajian ini telah dilaksanakan berasaskan tiga aspek persoalan kajian iaitu: (1) apakah tindakan dan pendekatan yang digunakan oleh MARA dalam mendapatkan semula pinjaman pelajaran; (2) apakah masalah atau halangan yang menyebabkan peminjam tidak dapat membayar balik pinjaman; dan (3) apakah latar belakang peminjam yang bermasalah dalam pembayaran balik pinjaman. Kaedah penyelidikan kualitatif adalah lebih sesuai untuk menjawab persoalan kajian. Data-data telah diperolehi melalui temubual, pemerhatian secara tidak formal dan dokumen-dokumen formal yang berkaitan. Responden kajian ini terdiri daripada lima orang pegawai pengurusan MARA dan lima orang peminjam bermasalah. Temubual telah dilakukan di antara Oktober 1999 hingga Disember 1999. Semua temubual telah dirakam dengan alat perakam suara berpandukan kepada soalan separa struktur. Selain daripada responden yang telah dikenalpasti, peminjam yang tidak bermasalah juga telah ditemubual secara tidak formal. Hasil kajian mendapati : (1) dalam proses kutipan pinjaman, MARA mengamalkan pendekatan untuk membantu peminjam dengan mengambilki ra masalah peminjam; (2) pendedahan identiti peminjam dan penjamin di akhbar tempatan adalah langkah yang berkesan dalam mendapatkan semula pinjaman; (3) peminjam yang mempunyai prestasi pelajaran yang rendah dan menuntut di luar negara adalah lebih bermasalah di dalam membayar balik pinjaman; dan (4) sikap, mentaliti subsidi, amalan rakan yang dijadikan ikutan dan kegawatan ekonomi juga merupakan antara faktor peminjam melengah-lengahkan membayar balik pinjaman pelajaran MARA

The role of an effective student: case studies at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom

The acquisition of skills by postgraduate students should be effected as professional learning conducted under their own management. Research students have to take responsibility for managing their own learning and getting a PhD. They are also responsible for determining what is required as well as for carrying it out, and must always keep in touch in regular meetings with the supervisor. The student is the main person responsible for his/her PhD research. Doing a PhD clearly indicates that this is a student’s own research and work. The student is responsible for an original contribution to the subject and for developing a mature, critical knowledge of the subject area and its context. This study is using case study method where three Malaysian PhD students from three major disciplines of study namely arts, science and social science were involved in this research. The objective of this research is to provide better guidelines for effective roles for being a foreign student. As a result, the research had developed the best effective roles in order for students to success in their study

Exploring challenges in PhD studies: a case of science student

PhD students have to take responsibility managing their own learning and getting a PhD. They are also responsible for determining what is required as well as for carrying it out, and must always keep in touch in regular meetings with the supervisor. The student is the main person responsible for his/her PhD research. Doing a PhD clearly indicates that this is a student’s own research and work. The objective of this research is to provide better guidelines for effective roles of a PhD science student, especially the foreign student. The actual research to be reported used the case study method. Three Malaysian PhD students from three major disciplines of study i.e. arts, science and social science, were interviewed in depth several times within a year. All three case studies would make the present article too long. Therefore, only one case study which focusing on science student will be presented in this article in order to achieve a better understanding of the story. As a result, the research had developed the best effective guidelines in order for students to success in their study

Responsibilities of school: the review of research student policies

In every university, there is code of practice or policy for graduate research student which contained in the student handbook. Every student will be given this handbook during their registration at the university. What actually contained in research student policy? In general, research student policy contains information about responsibilities of student, supervisor, school and recommended practices which supposed to be done by student, supervisor and school. Part of this policy was designed to protect the student's interest and welfare. Hence there were 40 graduate research student policies have been studied from 40 universities in the United Kingdom. This article will explore in detail about research student policies which focusing on responsibilities of school

Challenges in Ph.D studies: the case of arts student

Ph.D students have to take responsibility managing their own learning and getting a Ph.D. They are also responsible for determining what is required as well as for carrying it out, and must always keep in touch in regular meetings with the supervisor. The student is the main person responsible for his/her Ph.D research. Doing a Ph.D clearly indicates that this is a student's own research and work. The actual research using case study method where three Malaysian Ph.D students from three major disciplines of study namely arts, science and social science were involved. However only one case study which focusing on Arts discipline will be presented in this article. The reason being there were too many quotations have to be put in if better understanding of the story is to be achieved. This would make the article be too long if three case studies to be presented in this article. The objective of this research is to provide better guidelines for effective roles of a Ph.D Arts student especially the foreign student. As a result, the research had developed the best effective roles in order for students to success in their study

Postgraduate students' perception on effective supervision: a case study at one public university in Malaysia

Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) is one of the Research Universities (RU) in Malaysia. In gaining RU status, a university must meet the criteria of a Research University. One of the criteria is that, RU must have quantity and quality of researcher including postgraduate students. Thus, the research done by postgraduate students could be used to enhance the quality of research through developing the knowledge in the field of study. Specifically, this research aims to identify the best practices relevant to effective supervision of postgraduate research students. This research done by the basis of qualitative approach which 12 postgraduate research students have been in-depth interviewed. The data have been analysed manually and there were eight themes derived from the interviews which could answered the research questions. The results have been successfully explored the experiences and respondents' perception towards effective supervision

Graduate research student policy: A study of United Kingdom universities' practices

In every university, there is code of practice or policy for graduate research student which contained in the student handbook. Every student will be given this handbook during their registration at the university. Part of this policy was designed to protect the student's interest and welfare by stating the responsibility of the student, supervisor, school and effective ways of supervision. The question is how far this policy has been practiced and implemented effectively? Hence, there were 40 graduate research student policies have been studied from 40 universities in the United Kingdom. There were also 110 foreign graduate students had involved in order to obtain the information needed. It was found in the research that 74% of the respondents had agreed that the policy is very helpful and worked. This paper will identify the most effective ways in practicing this policy towards the effectiveness in graduate research student supervision