SERDANG, July 29 – The employability of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) graduates increased in 2021 to 95.4 per cent compared to 2020 by 93.5 per cent.

Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Graduate Marketability (CEM),Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mass Hareeza Ali @ Hamid said the  percentage of employability of graduates increased to 95.4 percent in graduation

He said the percentage of employability of the graduates issued by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) recently for the year 2021 includes working graduates, continuing studies, waiting for placement and graduates improving their skills.

"The figure means that the quality of UPM graduates is very proud. Only about 4.6 percent of them did not get a job during that period," he added.

For the year 2022 , he said UPM has set a higher target of 96 percent of the employability of graduates, which is for those who will join the Convocation Ceremony in  November 2022.

He said, among the reasons that some do not get a job during the graduation period are that some choose not to work because the salary received is not commensurate, the choice of the job location and some who want to take a break and travel for a while.

According to him, there are also those who are too picky about the job by wanting work related to the academic field that is being studied only.

"Graduates need to be flexible and open, they need to seize every job opportunity they have first," he said.

He also said that academic qualifications are not a determinant in obtaining a job as employers will also take into account other factors such as soft skills.

Thus, he said, CEM as the responsibility centre will try to take responsibility in assisting students  in increasing  the percentage of employability of graduates including conducting soft skills programmes, pandanan with companies as well as entrepreneurship programmes. 

Date of Input: 19/08/2022 | Updated: 19/08/2022 | zul_mohd