KUALA LUMPUR – Rapid globalisation, the COVID-19 pandemic and developments in the digital world have compelled the industry to evolve towards digitalisation, thus increasing the importance of ‘micro-credentials’ in the industry to suit the current generation.
Chief executive of the Institute of Continuing Education and Professional Studies (iCEPS) Prof Dr Azizul Halim Yahya said a ‘micro-credential’ serves as an added value to make candidates the top choice of employers or remain relevant in their careers by producing knowledgeable, valued and highly skilled workers.
He said strengthening specific expertise (upskilling) and closing the skill gap (skill gap) is seen to benefit this generation so as not to be left behind in the rapid evolution of technology.
“Micro-credentials are courses from accredited programmes offered in smaller learning modules to enable students to be more focused on topics or modules according to aptitude and ability.
“At iCEPS, there are 33 micro-credential courses offered, including technical modules such as Fibre Optic Communication System and also versatile modules such as Sanitiser Development,” he said in a statement today.
According to the statement, Azizul Halim said Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) through iCEPS had introduced micro-credential courses in line with the call of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) call to promote lifelong learning, which was launched by UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Dr Roziah Mohd Janor on Dec 15 last year.
Azizul stated that iCEPS is also moving towards giving recognition to individuals who complete these micro-credential courses for credit transfer opportunities to students or individuals studying at UiTM.
He said according to a report released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest rate of 4.3 percent in Oct 2021 compared to May 2020 which recorded 5.3 percent which is still a high figure compared to the rate on Dec 31, 2019 which was 3.2 percent before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“Limited employment opportunities offered by employers, because they want to reduce production and operating costs, are among the factors causing the rise in unemployment rate, apart from field inequality.
“Therefore, we need to be prepared to face the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or any crisis in the VUCA (Volatile-Uncertain-Complex-Ambiguous) era by determining the best direction and planning, for the education sector to be in line with new demands,” he said.
