“Local Grads’ Command of English is Better Now,” Says Higher Education Minister

The command of English amongst our Malaysian youngsters has been ridiculed time and time again. With that said, there is one group that constantly receives a lot of flak for not speaking English properly, and they are the local graduates. However, their reputation may be elevated thanks to a recent statement that was given by our Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.

Source: the sun

According to The Star,  during a university-industry dialogue session at University of Technology Malaysia Skudai, Johor, the minister had stated that our local graduates have improved their command in English. Good on them! Idris added that his statement was based on feedback from employers. Sounds legit! 

Source: englishjer

He also explained that the improvement in the English proficiency have subsequently increased the chances of these graduates landing a job after graduation. He stated that this is because the local graduates are now aware of the importance of the English language when penetrating the job market. 

“It is good to note that our university students are putting in more effort to master English,” he said.

Idris continued saying that the Malaysia English Assessment (MEA) that was launched last year would still continue to aid our graduates to master the language. He added that with its combination of formal and informal learning and assessment, the MEA is expected to produce graduates that are on par with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) English proficiency level.

FYI, CEFR is the international standard for describing language ability. 

Source: cynthia d. / english bugnon 2017-18

On the other hand, Idris also stressed that it is important for the industry and the academia to collaborate and cooperate in order to produce graduates that will fulfil the needs of the industry. According to him, both parties must come up with a relevant curriculum for economic activities. This is so that job opportunities mismatching will be avoided.

Moreover, he said that chief executive officers that were appointed as adjunct professors had also given the students good exposure to the industry. They get to learn directly from pros in the industry after all! 

Thus, keeping in mind the statement of the minister, maybe our local graduates have indeed greatly improved their English proficiency. Hopefully, this will increase our country’s rank in the English Proficiency Index and also allow loads of graduates to land a job that suits their skills!

Also read: Is the State of Our English in Malaysia That Bad?