MELAKA: The scholarship offer to 1,000 post-Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students to undergo skills training in China is an opportunity for participants to enhance their skills more comprehensively, said Prof Datuk Dr Massila Kamalrudin.
The Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) vice-chancellor said this initiative would indirectly help UTeM strengthen its TVET field holistically, as it is one of the universities under the Malaysian Technical University Network (MTUN).
“The full scholarship offer from the Chinese government, and the free return flight tickets sponsored by the Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), can attract more students to pursue education or training in TVET, thereby helping the country produce TVET-based human capital.
“In this regard, UTeM hopes that the scholarship quota can be evenly distributed among MTUN students, and UTeM welcomes and supports this initiative to strengthen TVET,” she told Bernama.
She said this after the launching of the Place & Train UTeM@KPT TVET programme at UTeM in Durian Tunggal here by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday.
Also present were Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and MARA chairman Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.
Massila said UTeM has collaborated with leading e-commerce companies in China, namely Alibaba Group and Taobao, in an effort to strengthen its TVET programmes.
“Through this collaboration, UTeM sends our students and lecturers to China, and the training offered is fully sponsored while UTeM pays for the flight tickets,” she said.
Earlier, Ahmad Zahid said the Chinese government is offering 1,000 more scholarships to Malaysian post-TVET students to undergo training in that country.
He said selected students would be sent to China for between three months and one year to undergo training in various fields under a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The students would attend training in new technological fields like artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles (EV), cyber security and battery, he added. – BERNAMA
