As the statistics from the Ministry of Education
revealed that there were over 119,000 students
enrolled in ICT courses in 2002, with a production
of over 53,000 graduates. However, by 2012 both
figures fell drastically 80,000 students and 19,500
graduates respectively. A number of factors have
been cited for the decline in the supply of ICT
graduates as follows:a. Perception that ICT is not a promising
industry especially the disillusionment
arising from “dotcom bubble burst” in 2000
and since then prospective students have
been gravitated to other emerging courses
especially health-related studies that
Government also strongly promulgated;
b. Widespread impression among the students
that ICT courses require extra ordinary skill
in mathematics, which is indeed only true
in the case of computing and engineering
sciences, and not other ICT disciplines that
emphasizes innovation and creativity skills;
c. Lack of timely knowledge about ICT trends,
opportunities and career prospects among
school teachers and counsellors are also
playing a significant role in dampening
student’s motivation; and
d. Unlike medicine, engineering, architecture,
legal and accountancy, the ICT sector lacks
professional recognition and prestige, which
forces students to opt for other lucrative
courses;
Demand for ICT Graduates: From the demand
side, the human talent issues plaguing both ICT
producers and user industries can be surmised as
follows:a. Quality, competency and employability of ICT
graduates in meeting the industry’s demands
continue to remain a critical issue. According
to PIKOM past findings only 10% of the new
entrants to workforce is directly employable,
while others need to be trained before
placing in proper routines. Companies,
especially the smaller ones, are not willing
to mobilize their scarce resources in training
or coaching or mentoring activities in fear
of rampant job hopping behaviour among
new recruits especially in the current tight
job employment scenario in Malaysia. Low
remuneration, especially in comparison to
b.
c.
d.
regional countries, also attributes to rampant
job-hopping for better terms of employment
not only within the country but also regional
migration.
As Gartner highlighted, declining interest
among young people in ICT jobs that demand
long working hours continue to plague the
growth of the ICT industry. Indeed, this is a
global phenomenon. However, initiatives by
TalentCorp, which was established in January
2011, help to redress some of the talent gaps
in the ICT sector. The initiatives are carried
out via three strategic thrusts: optimize
Malaysian talent, attract and facilitate global
talent and build networks of top talent. Being
new, the fruition of these endeavors is yet to
be realized.
The ICT industry, including its workforce,
generally lacks the interest in attaining global
standards and competencies in process
and quality improvement activities. PIKOM’s
internal investigation revealed that only 6%
of Malaysian Information Communications
Technology Service (ICTS) providers have
attained Capability Maturity Model Integration
(CMMI) certifications and less than 1.5% are
equipped with the People Capability Maturity
Model (PCMM) certification. The numbers
were further disheartening upon realizing
that less than 2% of PIKOM members in the
ICTS segment have employees certified with
Six Sigma or Lean Six Sigma accreditations.
Green ICT Certifications have yet to gain
foothold in the Malaysian ICTS landscape.
These certifications are critical for globalising
Malaysian ICT products and services, or
to solicit ICT contracts from developed
economies like USA;
Public and private universities and industries
are still behind in creating globallyrecognized ICT products and services due
to the lack of a strong R&D and patenting
culture. Despite the long established
presence of some multinationals, the
country still has weak links in the global
R&D and innovation network. This is due to
difficulties in getting the right candidates to
embark on high value adding ICT activities
that the Government is passionate about
over the past two decades.
79