Identifying the Employment Skills Among Malaysian Vocational Students: An Analysis of Gender Differences

Abstract

Employability and the creation of a knowledge-based economy have become fundamental concerns in many countries, including Malaysia. Realizing the need to achieve a high-income economy, the Malaysian Government through its Eleventh Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) is transforming Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) by enabling industry-led approach is crucial to produce skills human capital that meet the industry demand and support the migration of all economic sectors towards knowledge intensive activities, in line with the aspiration to become a high-income nation by 2020. Technical and Vocational Education can play a major role in providing future workforce with employability skills. Therefore, the research aims to examine the differences in competency perceived level by gender for vocational students majoring in hospitality. Questionnaires were distributed to 841 hospitality students in five regions in Malaysia. Descriptive statistic and independent sample T-Test were used to analyse the data. The findings show that there is no significant difference between male and female. The mean score of male is higher than mean score of female. Thus, the result provides evident that male is more competent in hospitality employability skills compared to female student in vocational colleges. The findings provide insights to curriculum developers and policy makers on the appropriate interventions that need to be taken to improve the employability skills of the graduates.

Systematic Literature Review of Employability Skills of Hospitality Graduates after Covid-19 Era

“…As such, graduating students should have a proactive grasp of technology from existing institutions of higher learning (Adeyinka-Ojo et al, 2020), while higher education institutes must emphasize developing knowledge and attributes that prepare students for the careers they wish to pursue (Chen & Gursoy, 2008;Schreck et al, 2020). Employability skills involve the ability to contribute to work efficiency in an organization combined with good oral and written communication skills and critical thinking, which form the foundation of both academic and workplace success (Munro, 2007;Mahazir et al, 2019).…”

“…The concept of employability skills can be broadly defined as the academic, personal, and teamwork skills that employers expect of their employees, and these skills should be developed through education (Ismail et al, 2019). Meanwhile, previous research found that the implementation of team-based learning in the education system is crucially important to develop the student's skills and competencies that are useful for enterprises, organizations, occupations, and teams to perform various tasks (Lu, 2021).…”

“…Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education) highlights the need for graduates to be able to navigate complex challenges successfully, thus graduates must possess a variety of skills and knowledge, as well as the ability to make ethical decisions and the resilience to cope with rapid changes (Ismail et al, 2019). The development of skilled human resources among the graduates can be developed through extended internships (Moya & Özgit, 2022).…”

The Influence of Innovative Characteristics, Work Readiness, and Vocational Self-Concept on Employability of Vocational College Students

“…Even in China, Zeng et al (2022) find that male vocational students are more driven and exhibit elevated energy when it comes to adapting to work. But, as stated by Ismail et al (2019), in some countries, the percentage of females enrolled in TVET is lower than males due to factors such as the government itself, school society and parents. The finding from the study by Abdullah et al (2020), shows that there is a statistical difference between male and female students in vocational colleges on social intelligence, cross-cultural skills, and leadership skills.…”