Important Skills Employer Looking for Graduate

CHAPTER 1

INTRO DU CTI ON

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I ntr oduc tion

E n gin ee rs p la y an impor ta nt ro le in a na tion’ s de ve lop me nt. I n the new

mille nnium, e ngin ee rs have to face ne w c ha lle n ge s, wh ic h requ ir e more tha n

ju st tech nical skills. The y a re e xpec ted to be mo re ve rsa tile a nd po sse ss e s se ntia l

non-tec hnical skills a s the ir wo rk scope will req uire them to deal with

profe ssiona ls in va r ious disc ip line s ( In man, 20 06) .

The high une mplo yment ra te a mong enginee r ing gradua te s re flec ts a sk ills

mis ma tc h be twee n the graduate s pr oduce d by institutio ns of higher le a rning and

th e requir e ments of ind ustry . In a ddres sing this iss ue of skills misma tc h , the

Ma la ysia n gove rnment is co ntinuously re viewin g the education syste m to mee t the

c urre nt and future ne eds of the country’ s ec ono my . The proble m of sk ills

mis ma tc h is due to the lack of c oordina tio n be twee n indus try p rojec tions of the ir

human reso urce req uire me n ts an d p la nning on the part of educatio n a n d tra in in g

provider s (Fo ng Chan Onn , 200 4).

I n addition , non-tec hnic a l s kills a re nee ded to ac complish var io us tasks a nd job s.

These s kills, a lso known a s soft skills acc ording to Lange (20 00) , a re not

a dequate ly a ddre s sed in in stitut ion s of highe r lea rning. He f ur ther a sse r ts tha t the

a dva nc e ment in te c hno lo gy a nd the soc ia l and economic c ha nges ha ve re su lte d in

th e workp la ce re quiring worke rs with a br oa d se t of s kills whic h inc lu de pro blem

solving, lis te n in g, ne go tia tion , c ommunicatio n, te a mwork and positiv e work

a ttitu des.

Th e hu man res ource requ ir e men t o utlined in the 9MP , asser ts the need for

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Ma la ysia to de ve lop h uman cap ita l who are k nowle dgea ble and highly skille d ,

fle xible a nd c rea tive a s we ll a s imbued with po sitive work e thics and sp ir...