By Ling Hui
KUCHING, March 8: Sarawak Skills Development Centre (Sarawak Skills) has managed to produce competent graduands and trainees where an average of 89 per cent of them are employed within six months after their graduation.
International College of Advanced Technology Sarawak University College (i-Cats UC) Pro-Chancellor and Sarawak Skills chairman Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Husain said this achievement would not be possible if not for the tripartite collaboration between the state and federal governments and other industry players.
With one of Sarawak Skills’ learning institutions—i-Cats UC being officially pronounced as a university college today, he said the production of future proof graduates is essential in line with Sarawak’s economic development to become a high-income state by 2030.
“Sarawak Skills and its Group of Learning Institutions such as i-Cats UC play a role in developing human resources to catalyse the economic transformation of Sarawak into the era of Industry Revolution 4.0 and the digital economy.
“We need to instill diversity via multipronged approach to pass on skills to the new generations. So, we will introduce and update the curriculum for the application of Industry 4.0, Green Technology and Renewable Energy to remain relevant in the industry,” he said during the duo celebration of Sarawak Skills/ i-Cats UC 23rd Convocation and the official launching of i-Cats UC at i-Cats UC West Campus here today.
In the convocation, there was a total of 742 graduates but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, only 15 graduands were present this morning while several other separate sessions would be held on other days.
Among the 742 graduands, 327 of them are recipients of the Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM), 19 are Malaysian Skills Diploma (DKM) recipients, five are recipients of the Malaysian Advanced Skills Diploma (DLKM), seven are of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Certificate, with another 259 diploma and 25 Bachelor’s Degree graduands of various fields.
Other than that, several other awards were given out to outstanding graduates such as the Industry Awards, i-Cats President’s Awards, TVET Industry Award and the newly introduced Sarawak Skills Human Capital Award 2020.
Now with i-Cats elevated as a university college, Abdul Aziz also said more improvements and upgrades would be made especially to develop the five strategic milestones for 2021 to 2025.
It includes the offer of industry-given and future-oriented educational and training programmes, enhancement of organisational capabilities, development of state-of-the-art learning facilities, reinforcement on research and development as well as alumni involvement and development.
“At the same time, more courses or programmes to suit various industry needs would be offered from Master’s Degree level to the Master of Philosophy level while giving priority to research and development,” he said. — DayakDaily
