Dr. Gwee Sai Ling, General Manager of PYDC (left) and YB Soon Lip Chee, State Youth and Sports Committee chairman, and Dr. Chong Beng Keok and Anna Lim with the signed MoU.

YB Soon Lip Chee giving the keynote address.

Dr. Chong Beng Keok shared how important this collaboration is for the next generation.

Group photo with the signed MoU by all institution representatives and Penang State Government.

By UOW Malaysia KDU

The African Proverb that “It takes a village to raise a child” is true to its core, especially in a post-pandemic world. Therefore, it will also require more than just one institution to improve the lives of the next generation. On the 28th of March, UOW Malaysia KDU was part of a grouping of five different educational institutions that exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC) to further strengthen, promote, and sharpen both soft and technical skills amongst youth.

This collaboration was initiated by the Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC) with the intention of uniting the efforts of different educational institutions to uplift the quality of graduates in terms of sharpening their soft as well as technical skills. Prof. Dr. Chong Beng Keok, Vice-Chancellor UOW Malaysia KDU Penang, stated that management of her institution were delighted with this initiative as it deeply aligns with UOW Malaysia KDU’s core values. UOW Malaysia KDU is committed in every way to ensuring this initiative becomes a success.

The event was graced by the presence of YB Soon Lip Chee, State Youth and Sports Committee Chairman, and he gave a keynote speech on the potential impact of partnership among these institutions upon the next generation. He also emphasized the importance of congruently building soft and technical skills, especially in this post-pandemic world. In addition to UOW Malaysia KDU, institutional representatives from Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TARUC PG), Han Chiang University College of Communication, and SEGi College Penang were partie to the MoU signing ceremony.

Following the signing the MoU, Dr. Chong Beng Keok shared on how “crucial and timely this partnership between these institutions is as economically, socially and technologically we have been hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic. The world has also been disrupted by Industrial 4.0, and thus traditional notions of work have been upended by the force of Industrial 4.0 revolution and progress in workplace digitalization. These changes have brought unprecedented impact to graduating students because students have been educated using traditional systems and technology, and now they have to enter into the Industrial Revolution 4.0 workplace where employers require them to possess a combination of specialized Industrial 4.0 knowledge and skills as well as cross-functional skills such as creativity, ICT literacy, social skills, complex problem-solving skills etc. As a consequence, they need a lot of intensive new training and guidance in order to transition smoothly into an Industry 4.0 workplace. This collaboration between PYDC and other educational institutions is a means of moving forward to ensure students’ learning covers a wide range of 21^st century applied experiences to ensure a smooth transition into workplace.”