Outcome-Based Internship in Malaysia's Public Higher Education Institutions
Yeoh Khar Kheng
Citation :Yeoh Khar Kheng, Outcome-Based Internship in Malaysia's Public Higher Education Institutions International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education 2017,4(4) : 41-52
Immersed inglobalized world with keen competition and conflicting demands, many countries are confronting the thornyissues of graduate unemployment. Thus, the institutions of higher education faced with tremendous demands from the policy makers, the industry and the parents to produce qualified and suitable candidates that can be match with the requirements of the industry. In Malaysia, the recent past had witnessed score of newspaper reports on the alarming rate of unemployment of local graduates; citing the incongruences between graduates attributes and the employers' expectation. In 2011, the Arts and Social Sciences field has the most noteworthy number of unemployment, and mostly bachelor degree holders from public universities below the age of 24. Surprisingly, the anecdotal evidence suggested that 88% of the Malaysia employers stated that they are maintaining or increasing hiring for the past 5 years.The above statistics have prompted the Malaysia's government to take multi-prong strategy to addres this urgent issue and one of them is to place more emphasis on the quality of internship. Outcome-based internship through tripartite relationship (intern, university through the academic supervisor, and the employer) can further enhance career skill and career focus of the undergraduates which are the main focus of this research report. The main research question is what are the determinants of outcome-based internship, that is, what assure a successful internshipfor the business undergraduate in Malaysia.