Environmental Scan 2017: Human Capital Issues within the Medical Devices Sector
Key Issues
IHLs are reluctant to make major changes (30% or more) in
their curriculum as they may need to apply for re-
accreditation of the revised program from EAC (Engineering
Accreditation Council)
Fresh graduates are not well prepared to start work
immediately as they lack the hands-on experience and industry
knowledge
Key Recommendations
4. Improve practical
knowledge and technical
skillsets of fresh graduates
A large number of companies have indicated that fresh
graduates have good theoretical knowledge but face
difficulty in translating them to solve real-life problem. As a
result, they have spent a huge amount of time and money in
training the fresh graduates who lack the fundamental
practical knowledge.
Fresh graduates do not have basic knowledge of MedDev
industry and are not expose to the regulatory requirements
The existing internship period is too short to be beneficial to the 5. Increase internship period
students and the companies. In addition to that, lecturers /
to a minimum of 6 months
instructors themselves are lack of industrial experience
and plan a structured
internship and
Many companies have highlighted on the short internship
lecturer’s/instructor’s field
period as a loss for both the intern and the employer. This is
attachment program for the
because the intern is unable to gain much knowledge over
industry
such a short period of time and the company is unable to
assign critical tasks to the intern.
While acknowledging that 8-12 weeks are too short for an
internship, IHLs are not extending the internship period
currently as that is the requirement by EAC and they are
afraid that students might switch to other IHL if they do so
There is no / insufficient industry exposure among lecturers
/ instructors, which could help them better understand the
real-life problem faced by the industry
The culture of continuous learning and upskilling is not wide 6. Promote continuous
spread in the industry
learning and upskilling to
companies and industry
Currently, there are very limited technical related upskilling
professionals
courses available for the industry and competent trainers for
the niche skills / latest technology is not available locally
The industry has reported high difficulty in finding talents
with good experience and familiarity with the local and
international regulatory requirements as well as the
associated audit process for the MedDev industry. Often,
they have to hire regulatory personnel from other industries
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