JOHOR BAHRU, MALAYSIA – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has achieved a leading position in producing graduates who are highly skilled and command premium incomes. This announcement was made by the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Datuk Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, this accomplishment aligns with the Ministry of Higher Education’s (MOHE) new focus on fostering ‘high-income graduates’, a paradigm shift in employability metrics. The university’s success is in response to the Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin’s recommendation at the 2023 Graduate Job Market Conference. The conference’s goal was to increase the proportion of graduates earning a premium income of RM4,000 per month and above, through enhanced collaboration between universities, industry, and employers.
Ahmad Fauzi highlighted UTM’s impressive Graduate Employability (GE) percentage, noting that as many as 90 UTM graduates with Bachelor’s degrees are earning over RM10,000 monthly. This achievement coincides with the government’s initiative to foster the development of the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the first of its kind in Malaysia. This initiative, backed by a RM20 million allocation announced in Budget 2024 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, reflects the growing importance of AI technology in modern industries.
UTM’s commitment to leveraging AI technology aims at not only producing graduates proficient in AI but also capable of innovating in the field. The university’s ongoing 67th Convocation at Dewan Sultan Iskandar, which began last Saturday, involves 7,804 graduates, including recipients of Academic Prizes. Since 1972, UTM has produced 225,394 graduates, with 11,301 being international students from 100 countries.