Exciting Times for
Malaysian Engineers in
st
the 21 Century
Engineers working with new technologies such as Virtual Reality.
T
he engineering profession is changing
with the times. There are now two new
engineering categories which can be
registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia.
Engineering education is being transformed under
the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2015-2025)
to cater to the needs of Industry 4.0. Future
engineers will be working in an environment of fast
changing technologies, higher global connectivity
and with a multi-cultural workforce.
Engineers are recognised for contributing to
economic development and raising the quality
of life. They can take credit for superhighways,
long bridges, mega ports, iconic towers, huge
water and sewage systems, as well as high-tech
electronic devices. However, the shortage of
engineers continues to persist in many parts of
the world, including Malaysia. The engineer to
population ratio in this country is reported to be
1: 150, far short of the international standard
of 1: 75. Malaysia needs at least 200,000
engineers by 2020 in order to attain the status of
a developed nation. As at end June 2019, there
are only around 140,000 engineers registered
with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM).
BEM, the statutory body that registers and
regulates qualified engineers records 19,000
Professional Engineers and close to 119,000
Graduate Engineers.
Engineering is thus a high in-demand
job, according to the Critical Occupation List
2017/2018 prepared by Talent Corp Malaysia and
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