JOHOR BARU: Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates are urged to enhance their communication skills in order for them to excel in the industry.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Faculty of Social Science and Humanities dean, Prof Dr Muhammad Sukri Saud, said one of the main factors for Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) to run smoothly was overcoming the language barrier.

“Malaysia has no issues in providing qualified skilled workers because we have been slowly moving toward IR4.0 for the past few years but our main concern now is more on communication matters.

“We do not want our graduates to only know about machinery and systems here but also venture abroad to gain valuable experience,” he said.

He said local TVET graduates were now the number one resource that investors look for before expanding their businesses locally.

“Our students employability rate is high, with many offered jobs right after graduating.

“One of the things that UTM does is send students for language classes to enable them to better convey or gain knowledge in the industry,” he said after officiating the 3rd TVET International Conference here.

Prof Muhammad Sukri said the conference was an important platform to share data on studies and research on TVET with industries and learning institutions.

“Previously, all findings and research can only be accessed and understood by the researchers and academicians but now we want to change this.

“We want not only the public but all relevant parties involved in TVET to know about the latest findings in the industry so that they can benefit from it as well as implement it in the industry,” he said.

The conference was jointly organised by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, TVET Malaysia Association, BINUS University, Indonesia, Universitas Muhammadiyah Palu, Indonesia, Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto, Indonesia and Rajamangala Technology University Thanyaburi, Thailand.