The quality of the country's higher education remains internationally recognised and has nothing to do with the issue of the marketability of local graduates, said Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) Chief Executive Officer Professor Datuk Dr Mohammad Shatar Sabran.

He said that today's graduates need to have added value and a variety of skills to enable them to compete in the increasingly challenging job market, because excellent academic achievements alone no longer guarantee a graduate will get a job.

"Competition for jobs these days is very fierce and graduates need to equip themselves with additional skills such as mastery of multiple languages, critical thinking and adapting to technological developments and industry requirements.

"A good cumulative grade point average (CGPA) only allows a graduate to be called for an interview, but success in getting a job depends on the added value they possess. Academics are a basic requirement, but today's job world requires more than that," he said at the Graduate Employability: Between Reality and Expectation programme at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), here today.

Mohammad Shatar said that claims that the quality of the country's higher education is deteriorating to the point where graduates find it difficult to find jobs are unfounded.

UUM also places emphasis on professional certification and implements the School of Hard Knocks (SoHK) program, which provides industry exposure to final year students to increase their chances of getting a job after graduation.

"The programmes offered are constantly being improved so that UUM graduates remain competitive and become the choice of the industry at the national and international levels," he said.

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