Local higher education institutions (HEIs) are urged to offer more short courses in the form of  micro-credentials  to improve the skills and qualifications of the community. Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), Prof. Datuk Dr. Mohammad Shatar Sabran said such courses can be offered to those who do not have the opportunity to follow formal education. He said, through the short-term courses, the concerned group can polish and improve their skills.  He said that in Finland,  micro-credentials  can assist the community to get jobs, not only in the country but also with international companies. "This is proven when staff who lost their jobs from a giant mobile phone manufacturer once, Nokia suffered a severe loss when they were accepted to work in foreign companies because they had  micro-credentials  from universities there. "This story was shared by a participant at the Madani Malaysian Science Forum,  Designing a Sustainable Energy Transition for a Prosperous Nation's Future  recently," he said in a statement today. Micro-credential  is generally a course or learning package that aims to recognize the improvement of expertise and specific competence of individuals in various fields. Mohamad Shatar said that MQA itself has already set in motion initiatives related to  micro-credentials  by becoming a one-stop centre and main source of reference for information on  micro-credential  programmes offered by HEIs in Malaysia through MQA portal. He said, offering  micro-credentials  gives opportunities especially to working individuals to improve specific skills required by employers and industry in a short period of time. He said, what is more interesting about  the micro-credential  is that individuals can not only follow it within the country, but also abroad. He said, the flexibility given by MQA to the community to improve knowledge and skills through the micro-credentials route is generally unlimited. "So, the Malaysian community needs to take the opportunity as best as possible and more importantly our HEIs promote  this micro-credential  aggressively because this is one of the modes of education in the future. "It is hoped that more HEIs will offer  micro-credentials  in the form of Stand-Alone Micro-credentials (SAMC) because this initiative in addition to promoting flexible education that supports the lifelong learning agenda (PSH), it also helps boost the country's image to become a global education hub as intended by the government," he said.
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Date of Input: 18/10/2024 | Updated: 31/10/2024 | aidawati