KUALA LUMPUR – The government will continue to focus on training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, especially at the highest levels, to boost foreign investments.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told the Dewan Rakyat that the country’s current weakness lies in training for STEM, artificial intelligence, and TVET at the highest levels.
“We can do it if we give full focus and additional allocation (for training in STEM),” the prime minister said during Ministers’ Question Time today.
Anwar replied to Jimmy Puah Wee Tse (Tebrau-PH) who wanted to know the government’s efforts to ensure that the RM329.5 billion investment momentum obtained last year continues.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, also admitted that the interest of students in STEM is also declining and that is a matter of great concern.
He said the Education Ministry and other educational groups have taken various steps to urge parents to encourage children to engage in STEM at the secondary level.
“This is being worked on more seriously,” he added.
Anwar also said that in all his meetings with foreign companies intending to invest in Malaysia, he always emphasised the importance for them to have their centre of excellence here to provide skills training to professionals and local students.
“There must be training here because we currently lack engineers. The engineers that we produced, although good and well-received, are still considered to be lacking at the highest level of skills or efficiency.
“So there is a gap in that niche. Therefore, we need to give attention to TVET and engineering.
“I agree that if Malaysia does not do something immediately, we will be on the losing end.
“The focus now is no longer on the low-end industry, but the high-end. This requires higher efficiency than what is available now,” he said.
In that regard, Anwar said he had asked local universities, starting with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, to establish an AI Faculty that should coordinate their activities with all universities that conduct AI to meet some of the needs in that field. – March 26, 2024