The Graduates Tracer Study undertaken by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education in 2015 indicated that a total of 54,867 graduates remained unemployed in the period of three months before convocation. One of the reasons for this, as highlighted by the World Bank*, is due to a mismatch of skills between fresh graduates and employers' demand.
To address this issue, TalentCorp together with the Ministry of Higher Education introduced the Industry Engagement Zone (Ind-E-Zone) centres in public universities across Malaysia to improve the capacity and effectiveness of career services offices at universities. Ind-E-Zone aims to enhance career services at public universities by providing greater awareness of career opportunities arising from the Economic Transformation Programme and of the expectations of employers. They offer a range of activities such as Industry Engagements, Networking Sessions, Career Talks (C-Talks), and Sharing Sessions, where students are able to enhance their employability and gain greater awareness of internship and career opportunities within Malaysia’s key industries.
On 6 March 2016, YB Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department launched the 12th Ind-E-Zone centre in Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), joining 11 other public universities who have such centres in operation.
An important link between universities and the labour market, Ind-E-Zone also enables employers to have a consistent and more visible presence at universities as well as play a more active role in matching students with the appropriate types of professional opportunities.