TVET body to set up internship and job placement centre for students

Government-Industry TVET Coordination Body chairman Soh Thian Lai says it has signed partnership agreements with 58 trade organisations and plans to sign with another 48.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government-Industry TVET Coordination Body (GITC) will set up a placement centre in September for internship and job placements for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) students and graduates.

GITC chairman Soh Thian Lai said the body had identified some 10,000 companies to collaborate with for the initiative.

“In the past, public and private TVET institutes would produce students without providing further assistance (in job placement).

“With the GITC placement centre, every ministry overseeing TVET will provide details of their graduates for us to assist them in securing internships and jobs,” he told a press conference at Wisma FMM here.

Soh also revealed that the body had signed partnership agreements with 58 trade organisations and plans to sign with another 48.

GITC aspires to become a singular, central private body to coordinate with all 12 ministries and agencies overseeing TVET to ensure uniformity, he added.

GITC will also establish a council of experts, consisting of 390 professionals, to address TVET curriculum issues, aiming to eliminate skills mismatches between TVET graduates and industry needs.

“Some TVET graduates currently do not meet industry standards due to weak syllabi and outdated facilities in their institutions.

“The council of experts, drawn from 19 economic sectors, will collaborate with relevant ministries to advise on course structures, ensuring their relevance to industry needs,” Soh said.

He added that GITC had proposed to the government the provision of incentives for the private sector to allow the use of its state-of-the-art facilities for student teaching.