The employability rate of graduates from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP), particularly Faculty of Computer Systems & Software Engineering (FSKKP) remains above 90% in the past five years. According to the national graduate employability (GE) survey, FSKKP, UMP has been performing well among all other universities in the country.
“FSKKP is committed to provide high-quality education to students in both theoretical and practical aspects as expected and required in the industry and academia, which had contributed to the relatively high employability rate of our graduates,” said Associate Professor Dr. Mohamad Fadli Zolkipli, the Dean of FSKKP, UMP.
One of the unique strategies of FSKKP is that students have to focus on doing professional certification courses such as Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) in getting their bachelor’s degree at UMP. The curriculum of FSKKP is regularly updated for meeting the demand of industrial upgrade and development. Furthermore, faculty and student exchange programmes, collaborations with other players in the industries, industrial internship programmes are common practices at FSKKP, UMP. Several other initiatives that have been taken by FSKKP in order to ensure that its graduates are employable include:
- Internal interview sessions conducted by some industry players during Get-IT event; the prominent companies involved are CIMB Berhad, HeiTech Pade Berhad, Dreamedge Sdn. Bhd., SL1M Malaysia, Mutiara I-Tech Sdn. Bhd., Transrec Solution Sdn. Bhd., Prestariang Sdn. Bhd., etc.
- Finishing Study program conducted to give exposure to final-year students (who will go for internship) on how to deal with work life in the industry and how to look professional.
- Internship Company Database kept to help/advise students to get a good industrial placement. In 2018, 35 students were absorbed as permanent staff by their respective internship companies before the ends of their internships.
- Promotion/grant matching scheme carried on for students to directly join for a higher level of study at UMP with scholarship.
- Tracking of GE, called Tracer Study implemented to involve all lecturers in tracking each student’s employment status.
- Related information distributed through social and printed medias for students’ ease of information access.
“I utilized in the internship my knowledge and skill – interactive learning, discussion, programming expertise – which I learned at FSKKP; with which, my industry supervisor is convinced that I can add value to the company,” said Nor Abida, a recent FSKKP graduate who was offered a job position in the same company where she did her internship.
Another important factor is that FSKKP students are taught by national and international teachers from different countries; students are able to grow their knowledge by accomplishing assignments and projects and interacting with international students. Overall, companies are much interested to recruit graduates from FSKKP, UMP; particularly, more than 90% of its graduates secure a job within 6 months after their graduation in the last five years. Also noteworthy is that its GE rate in 2019increased to 93.3%.
UMP is currently embracing 9 distinct faculties where FSKKP is one of the prominent faculties, comprising four departments with 72 faculty members of which 70% are PhD holders.