Better chances for TVET grads
Daily Express : 20/02/2017

Kota Kinabalu: Kolej Teknikal Yayasan Sabah (KTYS) Chief Executive Officer Datin Dr Tarsiah Tz Taman said students intending to study technical and vocational skills at KYS would have an advantage over academic graduates in finding jobs in the State.She said the State and Federal governments have now emphasised the need for youths to acquire a skill, especially Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) qualifications, so that when they look for work after completing their studies their chances would be much brighter.

"Nowadays many academic graduates in the State are finding it difficult to get a job because they are unskilled in a particular skill, so the opportunities for students from KTYS are much brighter hence the reason for the open day today which is to provide information on KTYS for students and their parents."She said this to the media after officiating the KTYS Open and Parents Day at its City Campus at Sembulan on Saturday.

On competition faced by KTYS, Tarsiah said for private institutions the competition was minimal as KTYS was the TVET pioneer in Sabah and has the edge when it comes to technical and vocational training in the State."KTYS is an established training (academic and skills) provider for 26 years. KTYS is considered the pioneer and champion of TVET in Sabah, with experienced and expert lecturers and tutors.
"KTYS programmes are accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and Department of Skills Development (JPK).KTYS has the technical and hospitality facilities as required by MOHE and JPK. KTYS also has produced to date about 5,000 skilled graduates who are now mostly employed or are entrepreneurs.So KTYS had the TVET "edge" and thus competition from other private institutions is minimal."
However, she said there was stiffer competition for the college which comes from government institutions like Politeknik, Community Colleges, Latihan Perindustrian and also Mara."Even Institutions of Higher Learning (IPTA) are now venturing into skills and professional training to get additional financial endowments.
Some also offer token course fees, and some even provide free accommodation and living allowance. Some even have facilities which are funded by the Federal Government."On KTYS sponsorship offers for needy and deserving students, Tarsiah said currently KTYS receives sponsorship from nine sponsors including federal and state government agencies and private institutions.
"Of course there are qualifications and criteria which the students need to meet. But recently there has been a reduction in sponsorship."Even the PTPTN loan is only up to 75 per cent of the course fees unless the students come from BR1M qualifiers."If the students perform well and achieve a CGPA of 3.0 and above, they may get sponsorship.
But working parents can also withdraw their EPF for their children's education.Tarsiah also spoke about the KTYS' recent MoU signing with Linton University College (KTG education
group) in Mantin, Negeri Sembilan where she said 100 places have been offered for KTYS students to undertake their degrees in engineering.
"So it is a bright future for our students and we help map the direction for those who want to continue their studies, but if they instead want to be entrepreneurs, we can also assist them on that as we are also cooperating with Insken (National Entrepreneurship Institute) to provide entrepreneurship training and be incubators for them.
She added that KTYS also has set up its Warisan Kraf centre for this purpose where it currently offers three programmes which is sewing and weaving classes, metal and woodwork classes and batik abstract design.
On what was the preferred courses at the college, Tarsiah said it was the Diploma in Automative Technology which was the college's niche programme.Students for the Diploma in Automative Technology currently makes up 35 per cent of the 312 students in the KTYS.Overall, students of the Automative Technology diploma course also make up 55 per cent of 1,133 Alumni (from 1990-2015)."Second is either Electrical and Air-cond or Building Construction. There is also increasing interest in our Syariah banking programme."
She said the college also offers certificates/diplomas in Automotive, Welding, Culinary, Pastry and Information Technology."We also aim to make more home-grown courses in the future and lessen our reliance on franchised courses from other institutions," she said, adding that for their immediate future KTYS hopes to first gain university college status."With approval from the State Government, KTYS also hopes to consolidate into one campus in Sepanggar." - Neil Chana