A new collaboration between Malaysian government agency Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and technology firm Sun Microsystems Malaysia (Sun) would produce Malaysian graduates for the new economy.
According to representatives from both organisations, there is a growing demand from Malaysian ICT companies for open source software-based IT skill sets--such as Java and MySQL.
MDeC chief executive officer Dato' Badlisham Ghazali said that Sun would provide its industry-recognised technology training and certification tools to MDeC's network of institutions of higher learning to enable students, software professionals, technopreneurs and corporations to build the current and next-generation of information and communications technology (ICT) applications and services.
"This collaboration is in support of the government's direction to ensure a workforce of talented and skilled engineers to meet the increasing proliferation of open source software adoption in the country," said Badlisham.
He said that the alliance would equip students with the relevant expertise in the development of software applications and advanced engineering, thus enhancing their career development and advancement opportunities in the highly competitive and globalised technology marketplace.
Shortage of skills despite slowdown
"Despite the economic slowdown, the ICT industry is currently grappling with the exceeding shortage of skilled workforce in emerging global technologies," said Badlisham. "Our partnership with Sun is in line with our efforts to provide the latest and best technology training programmes for students and the industry."
"Under this memorandum of understanding, students would gain appropriate IT skills and improve employability, while the global IT industry will have access to a pool of trained manpower on emerging technologies including open source computing," he said.
According to Sun Malaysia managing director, CP Loo, "The demand for innovative learning and certification programmes that are in line with new technologies has never been greater. As the role of the IT professional becomes more specialised, IT professionals need to continuously upgrade their skills and aptitude to increase their competitive advantage in today's fast changing IT landscape."
"The alliance would see Sun providing course materials for Java EE, Java SE, Java ME, MySQL and OpenSolaris with the relevant certification framework, as well as training sessions for the graduates in the year-long agreement. Successful candidates will also have an opportunity for a three-month apprenticeship at MSC Malaysia Status companies," said Loo.
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