The importance of developing soft skills competency among students should be the priority of all the Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in order to ensure their graduates are marketable. Therefore, it is essential for HEIs to distinguish the knowledge and soft skill levels of their students so that strategies and intervention could be implemented to rectify their capabilities. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and soft skills competency from the employer's viewpoints on the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) students participating in the industrial training programme. A total of 438 employers from different industrial backgrounds had participated in this study. A questionnaire consisting of five dimensions of soft skills which are basic knowledge, communication skills, practical skills, leadership, and attitude was utilized to collect data. The results of this study indicate that the employers were satisfied with the knowledge and soft skills competency portrayed by UUM students in preparing themselves for the real work environment. The employers from the service sectors were satisfied with students' performance in all dimensions of soft skills measured. However, employers from the factory and commerce sector perceived as moderate satisfaction for all dimensions of soft skills. Additionally, the employers of the factory and commerce sector assessed by giving the lowest satisfaction score for "hands-on" skills, but generally they satisfied with the students' communication skills. The information gathered can provide important insights from the perspective of organizations which is valuable in improving the overall hard and soft skills competency for future professionals and managers.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between green supply chain management (GSCM), sustainability and environmental uncertainties through corporate social responsibility (CSR) perspective. The study also tries to examine the mediating role of environmental uncertainties in the relationship between green supply chain management and sustainable performance. The study is carried out on firms in oil and gas sector of Kingdom of Oman and the results are analyzed using SEM-PLS. The findings reveal the fact that sustainable performance has become the primary objective of the organizations. Achieving sustainable performance is now becoming the main objective for business firms globally. Environmental obligation has caused many business firms to comply with the regulations. The green supply chain management is emerged as a significant determinant of CSR implantation success. According to this study the practice of the GSCM however requires integration among green supply chain partners to achieve sustainable performance. The findings have a number of managerial implications that could contribute to Omani's industries for planning and development a GSCI strategy through the internal, upstream, and downstream of the green supply chain perspective. The managers should develop a comprehensive environmental strategy, which requires the implementation of internal environmental management initiatives and cooperation from both suppliers and customers.
This paper introduces the implementation of IEEE 802.22 Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN) for broadband internet access in rural areas. It highlights the advantage of implementing such technology and feasibility to co-exist with Digital Video Broadcasting -Terrestrial (DVB-T) in Malaysia. It adopts a model to determine the maximum number of WRAN base stations (BSs) by analyzing its co-channel interference between the BSs. The analysis shown that maximum WRAN BSs that could co-exist are 8 to 19 BSs outside the protection contour of the DVB-T BS. Coverage areas of 30 -100 km will be also feasible to co-exist. By implementing the IEEE 802.22 WRAN, the digital divide can be narrowed and broadband penetration would be increased.Index Terms-IEEE 802.22 Wireless Regional Area Network (WRAN), co-channel interference, rural broadband connectivity.
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