By Yasmin Ramlan
SHAH ALAM, Apr 23 — The existing collaboration between the Selangor Technical Skills Development Centre (STDC) and tech conglomerate Siemens has led to the successful upskilling and reskilling of over 2,000 workers.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said this was achieved within just the past half a year, with those participating in the training programme seeing a significant increase to their salaries.
“Since my last visit (to Germany) in 2019, we (Selangor) started adopting the German dual-system of technical and vocational (education). And in 2022, we began engagements with technology companies like Siemens.
“We have (established) a centre for Siemens, focusing on upskilling and reskilling. Over the past six to seven months, we have successfully trained more than 2,000 workers, resulting in an increase in their salary, up to two times more than what they earned previously,” he said during a forum at Hannover Messe 2024 in Germany yesterday.
Amirudin, who is currently on a working visit to Germany, was one of the panellists at the forum titled “Government and Industrial Collaboration for the Advancement of Sustainability Goals in Asean”.
On November 1, 2021, STDC entered into a partnership with Siemens Malaysia to develop a comprehensive training ecosystem for Industry 4.0 skills.
The move is also aimed at strengthening the state government’s effort to develop industrial workers through the Smart Selangor Technical and Professional Skills Initiative (Iktisass), which was introduced in 2018.
During the forum, Amirudin envisioned Selangor as a hub for high-technology investment by the year 2025.
To this end, he emphasised the importance of education in enhancing human capital and preparing a skilled workforce.
“We have very good cooperation not only with Siemens, but also (German automation company) Festo.
“As part of my ongoing visit to Germany, we also signed agreements to expand our partnership with tech companies like Mendix and KNX. This to ensure that we can adequately provide the human capital that is by the market.
“By 2025, our ecosystem will also expand into secondary schools. Hopefully, we will make sure to have enough human capital to fulfil these demands,” he said.
Amirudin went on to reminisce about the mindset that was prevalent in Malaysia during the early 1990s, when many viewed technical and vocational courses as secondary options.
Consequently, this perception led to a disparity in job opportunities, he said, with lower-end jobs in the sector compared to those pursuing university education.
“So, we needed to ensure a change in this mindset. Hopefully, collaborations with tech companies like Siemens and Apple can transform two important sectors in our society, namely the public at large and companies to invest more on technologies.
“I believe we can achieve high-tech industrialisation and become a high-income society,” he said.
