A tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between UTAR, SME Association Malaysia and Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) on 18 August 2021. Gracing the MoA signing ceremony were Chief Executive of PERKESO Dato’ Sri Dr Mohammed Azman bin Dato’ Aziz Mohammed and National President of SME Association of Malaysia Datuk Michael Kang Hua Keong. UTAR, among the five higher leaning institutions, namely INTI University, HELP University, Taylor’s University College and Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, will work together with SOCSO and SME Association Malaysia to support the national agenda to increase job placement and to reduce the unemployment rate.

Under the MoA, UTAR will encourage its final year students to be part of MYFuturejobs portal for job placement purposes and promote employment activities by SME Malaysia and SOCSO. Aside from that, UTAR will also work with SOCSO to provide a platform for SOCSO Employment Services in assisting students with career advice on labour market insights and jointly coordinate MYFutureJobs talks and employability programmes.

Dato’ Sri Dr Mohammed Azman said in his welcome address, “This MoU is to build long-term cooperation related to social security protection including an active labour market programmes. The Covid-19 pandemic, that is plaguing the country currently, has stressed the importance of social protection in the event of an economic crisis. SOCSO provides social protection to retrenched workers in the form of finance as a source of income, skills upgrading training and employment services to place employees in new jobs. In addition, SOCSO also provides social security benefits to family members of employees affected by death from Covid-19 infection at work. SOCSO is also important for youths who do not contribute to SOCSO. To maintain the stability of the national labour market, SOCSO provides support to enterprises to curb retrenchment and reduce the risk of unemployment among job seekers, including graduates. This is implemented through initiatives such as wage subsidies, career-generating incentives that have been announced by the government. The initiative also covers efforts to address youth unemployment, which is the category of job seekers most affected by the pandemic. SOCSO hopes to reduce the mismatch between the skills provided by the university and the skills required by employers.”

Datuk Michael Kang said during his opening remark, “Thanks to PERKESO for giving a helping hand to the industry, employees and youths that are facing challenges during this Covid-19 pandemic. With PERKESO incentive, a lot of employees are able to sustain in their lives. Besides that, it also helps the graduates who are facing challenges in securing jobs by training them to attain more skills and find jobs through the SME platforms, while reducing the unemployment rate at the same time. Graduates are our future, and we will work with universities to help the graduates and alumni to find a job, to mentor graduates who venture into start-ups through many scheduled activities.”

Prof Ewe said, “I am glad to note that UTAR will be collaborating with SME Association Malaysia and SOCSO to support the initiative to increase job placement and to reduce the unemployment rate through various programmes to ensure job seekers meet the current labour market demands. In UTAR, we aim to nurture students to be forward-thinking global professionals who are knowledgeable, competent and ethical life-long learners who would bring positive impact to society at large. Thus, we will take proactive measures to ensure our graduates continue to be in high demand among the potential employers by extending collaboration with other universities and industry partners.”

Also present at the virtual signing ceremony were Taylor’s University College Pro Vice Chancellor Yong Yut Ho, HELP University Datuk Vice Chancellor Dr Paul Chan, INTI University Interim Chief Executive Officer Chong Kok Wai and Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (TAR UC) President Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei.