Should Academia Include Technical Training for Industry Placements?

"Building Resilience for Economic Growth"

3-5 November 2015

Kuala Lumpur

Personal Experience

2-year Pupillage : a requirement for Corporate Membership of the UK Institutions of Engineers

Thick and Thin Sandwich Programme-UK 1960-1970s

Journey to a Professional Engineer Status

In the UK, most engineering courses take 3 years for an undergraduate bachelors (BEng) and a 4-year period for an Undergraduate Masters.

Students who read a 4 years engineering course are awarded a Masters of Engineering

Many courses include an option of a year in industry, which is usually a year before completion. Students who opt for this are awarded a Sandwich degree.

Engineering Degree Requirements

Engineering Accreditation Council of the Board of Engineers

Malaysia requires that:

to complement theory and practice a well structured internship programme in collaboration with industry should be incorporated into the curriculum.

Objectives of Internship Programme

To provide:

Enhanced Employability

Interpersonal and Social Skills

Interrelationships of Theory and Practice

Career Preparation

Insight into the World of Work

Personal Development

Technical Development

Process & Content of Technical Training

Detailed Programme

Report by Students

Report by Supervisors at Industry

Report by Supervisors at University

Canada2 years out of 4 Practical Training

Cooperative Education-Waterloo University Canada

Bill Gates University of Choice ?

21st Century Career Management

Formal Curriculum

CPD-Continuous Professional Development

Career Manager IETQuick-guide for Preparing a professional registration

application

Universiti Teknologi Petronas

UTP offers the longest industrial internship programmes in Malaysia.

The students are posted as interns for 28 weeks (approximately 7 months).

The length of the internship duration allows students:

to engage in more significant work assignments

a major strength of the academic curriculum.

Internship

Practical Internship must be linked with the development of the country.

In 1960-1980s Malaysia's economic and industrial development was still in its infancy and internship was confined to medical and engineering professions only.

Progressive institutions such as Institut TeknologiMARA was among the first to extend it beyond these two professions.

Internship in Malaysia

To improve employment opportunities, largecompanies have started opening internshipopportunities with Government assistance. Thebest interns are offered jobs

In UiTM all faculties are encouraged to sendstudents for internship programmes depending onthe generosity of the host companies.

Summary

Internship /Technical /Practical Training should be a MUST not only for engineering courses but also for non-technical courses.