Reasons for Unemployment Among Graduates
ARE GRADUATES TO BE BLAMED? UNEMPLOYMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE GRADUATES IN MALAYSIA By Norshima Zainal Shah Dublin City University, Ireland ABSTRACT The primary aim of this paper is to identify future help which can contribute towards reducing the unemployment rate of graduates in Malaysia, especially those with Computer Science Degrees. It does so by gaining initial insights into this problem through two groups: graduates and employers. The data draws on why graduates are unemployed from their own perspective as well as employers’ expectations towards the new workforce. The study concludes with two striking observations. Firstly, the graduates themselves feel that they are to be blamed for being unemployed. In addition, the employers too feel similarly, so reinforcing graduates’ attitudes as one of the major reasons for graduates’ unemployment. BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH In February 2006, the Berita Harian, a local newspaper, reported that every year Malaysia produces 60,000 graduates. 20,217 jobless graduates registered themselves with the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia in June 2006. Tables 1 and 2 show the high rate of unemployment among graduates according to universities and courses in Malaysia. Table 1: Unemployment among graduates according to universities University Unemployed % Universiti Teknologi Mara 3,278 16.2% Universiti Utara Malaysia 1,532 7.6% Private Universities & Colleges 1,217 6.0% Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 1,147 5.7% Universiti Kebangsaan 971 4.8% Malaysia Universiti Pertanian Malaysia 919 4.5% Other public universities 840 4.2% Universiti Malaya 531 2.6% Universiti Sains Malaysia 505 2.5% Universiti Malaysia Sabah 371 1.8% Universiti Islam Antarabangsa 358 1.8% Foreign Graduates 342 1.7% Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 174 0.9% Universiti Pendidikan Sultan 39 0.2%
Idris Others 7,993 39.5% Total 20,217 100.0% Table 2: Unemployment among Malaysian graduates according to courses Course/Subjects Unemployed % Computer Science 3,942 19.5%
Idris Others 7,993 39.5% Total 20,217 100.0% Table 2: Unemployment among Malaysian graduates according to courses Course/Subjects Unemployed % Computer Science 3,942 19.5%
References: ACNeilsen Research Services (2000). “Employer satisfaction With Graduate Skills”. Retrieved November 18 2007 from http://www.dest.gov.au/archive/highered/eippubs/EIP99-7/execsum99_7.htm Aken, A. and Michalisin, M.D. (2007). “The impact of skills gap on the recruitment of MIS graduates”. In Proceedings of the 2007 ACM SIGMIS CPR Conference on computer personnel research (St. Louis, Missouri, USA, April 19-21 2007). Asma, A. and Lim, L (2000). “Cultural dimensions of Anglos, Australians and Malaysians”, Malaysian Management Review, December, pp. 9-17. Bailey, J.L and Stefaniak, G. (2001). “Industry perceptions of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by computer programmers”. In Proceedings of the 2001 ACM SIGCPR Conference on computer personnel research (San Diego, California, USA, 2001). Beard, D., Schweiger, D. and Surendran, K. (2007). “Incorporating soft skills into accounting and MIS curricula”. In Proceedings of the 2007 ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on computer personnel doctoral consortium and research conference: The global information technology workforce (St. Louis, Missouri, USA, 2007) Braid, M. (2000). “Why today’s graduates don’t make the grade”. Retrieved November 20 2007, from http://web.lexis-nexis.com/professional/ Chickering, A. (2006). Strengthening spirituality and civic engagement in higher education. Journal of College and Character, 8(1). Retrieved November 20 2007, from http://www.colleguevalues.org/pdfs/Chickering%2()remarks.pdf Department for education and employment (1998a) Higher education for the 21st century: response to the Dearing Report (London, Department for the Education and Employment). Dest (March 2002). “Employability skills for the future”.ACT,DEST. Retrieved May 18, 2007 from http://www.dest.gov.au/ty/publications/employability_skills/final_report.pdf Fernandez (2006). “Evaluating Computing Education Programs Against Real World Needs”. The Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, vol. 21, no. 4, April 2006, 259-265. (Co- author Phyllis Tedford) Fowler, Floyd J. (1995). “Improving survey questions: design and evaluation”. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications Haywood, E. and Madden, J. (2000). “Computer Technology Students-what skills do they really need”. In Proceedings of the 2000 ACM SIGCSE ACM Australasian conference on computing education (Melbourne, Australia December 2000). Henwood, R . “Careers in Malaysia”. Retrieved May 2, 2007 from http://www.asia.hobsons.com/regional_outlook/careers_in_malaysia Hesketh, Antony J. (2000). “Recruiting an Elite? Employers’ perceptions of graduate education and training”. Journal of Education and Work, 13:3, 245271 Hillage , J. & Pollard, E. (1998). “Employability: developing a framework for policy analysis”. Retrieved November 21, 2007 from http://employment-studies.co.uk/summary.php?id=emplblty&style=print Horne S. E. (1980). “Behavioural Objectives in the Affective Domain”. British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 6 (2), 189-196 http://www.epu.jpm.my/New%20Folder/FAQstm.htm Kinnear, P.R and Gray, C.D. (2006). “SPSS 14 made simple”. New York: Psychology Press Lairio, M.and Pettinen, L. (2005). Students’ career concern: challenges facing guidance providers in higher education. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Vol. 6(3), 143-157 McLaughlin, M. (1995). “Employability Skills Profile: What Are Employers Looking For”. Retrieved April 20, 2007 from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/ 80/14/b3/2d.pdf McQuaid, Ronald W. and Lindsay, Colin. (2005). “The concept of employability”, Urban Studies, Vol.42 (2), 197-219 Owen-Smith, P. (2004). What is cognitive-affective learning? Journal of Cognitive Affective Learning 1(1), 11. Retrieved November 21, 2007 from https://www.jcal.emory.edu//viewarticle.php?id=31&layout=html Phang, S (2006). “Lack of English hinders Malaysia grads”. Retrieved June 7, 2007 from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/06/bloomberg/sxmalay.php The New Straits Times Newspaper (2005). “60 000 Malaysian graduates unemployed”. November 10th. The New Straits Times Newspaper (2004). “Computimes”. February 26th. The Star Newspaper (2004). “Fong: Review the education system to meet job needs” April 10th. The Star Newspaper, (2006). “Fong : Jobless ICT grads took outdated courses”. -Retrieved April 2, 2007 from http://www.mohr.gov.my/mohr_isujuly06.php Van Fleet, D.D., and Peterson, T.O (2005). Increasing the value of Teaching in the Academic Marketplace: The Creation of a Peer-Review Infrastructure for Teaching.Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol 4(4), 506-514. Vijan, P (2007). “Infosys Ready to offer jobs to 29 Malaysian graduates”. Retrieved July 30, 2007 from http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_business.php?id=269264 Yogeesvaran, K (2005). “Addressing Skills Gap: Malaysian Case Study”. Paper for the Regional Conference on Investment Climate and Competitiveness in East Asia.