ARE GRADUATES TO BE BLAMED?

UNEMPLOYMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE GRADUATES IN MALAYSIA

By

Norshima Zainal Shah

Dublin City University, Ireland

ABSTRACT

The primary aim of this paper is to identify future help which can contribute
towards reducing the unemployment rate of graduates in Malaysia, especially those with
Computer Science Degrees. It does so by gaining initial insights into this problem
through two groups: graduates and employers. The data draws on why graduates are
unemployed from their own perspective as well as employers’ expectations towards the
new workforce. The study concludes with two striking observations. Firstly, the
graduates themselves feel that they are to be blamed for being unemployed. In addition,
the employers too feel similarly, so reinforcing graduates’ attitudes as one of the major
reasons for graduates’ unemployment.

BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH

In February 2006, the Berita Harian, a local newspaper, reported that every year
Malaysia produces 60,000 graduates. 20,217 jobless graduates registered themselves
with the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia in June 2006. Tables 1 and 2 show the
high rate of unemployment among graduates according to universities and courses in
Malaysia.
Table 1: Unemployment among graduates according to universities
University Unemployed %
Universiti Teknologi Mara 3,278 16.2%
Universiti Utara Malaysia 1,532 7.6%
Private Universities & Colleges 1,217 6.0%
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 1,147 5.7%
Universiti Kebangsaan 971 4.8%
Malaysia
Universiti Pertanian Malaysia 919 4.5%
Other public universities 840 4.2%
Universiti Malaya 531 2.6%
Universiti Sains Malaysia 505 2.5%
Universiti Malaysia Sabah 371 1.8%
Universiti Islam Antarabangsa 358 1.8%
Foreign Graduates 342 1.7%
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 174 0.9%
Universiti Pendidikan Sultan 39 0.2%
 Idris
Others 7,993 39.5%
Total 20,217 100.0%
Table 2: Unemployment among Malaysian graduates according to courses
Course/Subjects Unemployed %
Computer Science 3,942 19.5%
Business 3,736 18.5%
Administration/Management
Engineering 3,096 15.3%
Accountancy 1,923 9.5%
Literature & Social Sciences 1,283 6.3%
Pure Science & Applied 1,303 6.4%
Sciences
Architecture & Building 540 2.7%
Management
Agriculture, Fisheries & 401 2.0%
Forestry
Others 3,993 19.8%
Total 20,217 100.0%

In general, there are common perceived reasons as to why graduates are

unemployed in Malaysia. Graduates lack skills (Vijan 2007); they are not able to
impress employers during interviews because they do not have the right skills like
presentation and communication skills which include proficiency in English (Phang
2006). In addition, they cannot perform to contribute to the company once they start
work because they are not “work-ready”. Malaysian universities are not producing
“work-ready” graduates because the country’s education system is too exam-oriented
(Fong 2004; Henwood 2007). They produce graduates who are competent theory-wise
but have no sufficient practical exposure. Finally, another common relevant reason is
related to the mismatch between what the universities are producing and what the
Malaysian job-market seeks (Asma and Lim, 2000; Yogeeswaran, 2005; Vijan, 2007).
Finally, This unemployment dilemma might also be the result of the nature of computer
science where skills are always changing and dynamic or, as Hesketh (2000) terms, as
‘converging’.
This phenomenon has caused a commotion in Malaysia where local society is
starting to accept that there is no guarantee of employment after a degree. This has
made graduates automatically enroll themselves for postgraduate programmes; parents
become more concerned about the courses their children are signing up for - or is it
their children’s’ employment at the end of the study period - and educators no longer
stress educational excellence only but have started to recognize that skills need to be
taught. Reacting to the problem, the Malaysian Government has taken crucial steps to
face this problem. Examples of three such steps taken by the Government are the
training scheme for unemployed graduates, teaching more subjects in English at school
level, and the introduction of the Electronic Labour Exchange System (ELX) which are
detailed below:
1 The training scheme for unemployed graduates: The objective of the Graduate
Training Scheme 2005 is to assist and equip unemployed graduates with specialised
skills to enhance employability, including English Language. It is targeted at degree or
diploma graduates from 2002 onwards. The Government sponsors the programme fee,
which is a generous monthly allowance of RM500.

2 More subjects at school level taught in English.: In 2002, the Government

announced that from 2003 onwards, the teaching of Science and Mathematics would be
carried out in English, in order to ensure that Malaysia will not be left behind in a world
that was rapidly becoming globalised. In addition, this programme aims to arrest the
declining command of the language among students. All public universities were urged
to change the medium of instruction from Malay to English in science and technology
subjects in 2005.

3 The Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX) project: This project was officially launched
by the Minister of Human Resources, Datuk Dr. Fong Chan Onn on 30 May 2006. It
acts as a one-stop centre for labour market information, and is accessible to
government agencies, the private sector and the general public. The Job Clearing
System offers free-of-charge job matching services for the Malaysian public and
employers. The Government hopes that the objectives of improving the mobilisation of
the nation's human resources and optimising the utilisation of manpower through the
systematic matching of job seekers to job vacancies can be achieved.
Finally, the Prime Minister’s Department in the Economic Planning Unit FAQ
webpage states the short and long term measures implemented by the government on
the issue of unemployed graduates in the country as the following:
i) Review the curriculum of the university to ensure graduates are
equipped with skills and knowledge required by the industry
and employers. In this regard, soft skill subjects such as
communication, problem-solving and language skills especially
English, have been introduced. The usage of English as learning
and teaching medium was also strengthened.
ii) Double major subjects will also be introduced to ensure graduates
possess broader knowledge.
iii) Introduce Entrepreneurship Programmes to encourage graduates
to be self-employed.
iv) Conduct studies and findings of the studies will be used as inputs
for government in formulating comprehensive policies and
programmes.

Even so, the effectiveness of these actions is debatable in terms of solving this
unemployment crisis among graduates. It is absolutely crucial to get to the root of this
problem if the state wants to generate future-proof graduates, regardless of their
specializations as these are the graduates who can withstand the speed of change in
the real world. Such ‘future-proofing’ requires the examination of employability which is
discussed in the next section.
 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Employability
Employability is centrally synonymous with skills and so it is not surprising to find
abundant research which embarks on the “skills and attributes approach”. These skills,
whether they are transferable skills, personal competencies, core skills, soft skills or key
skills are the desirable prime outcomes of higher education in making students
employable. Basically, the methodologies in such research present the target groups
with a list of skills to be rated, to seek the importance of particular skills. With the
knowledge of which skill is more important relative to another, an educator can design
or restructure a course by using the ‘highly rated skills’ in terminal objectives of lessons.
Thus, with this knowledge, higher educational institutions can plan to integrate skills
development courses into the academic curriculum; employers can also develop
training programmes aimed at compensating for the lack of specific attributes in the
graduate population.
The Employability Skills Profile (1992) lists that 25 major employers in Canada
wanted:
i) People who can communicate, think and continue to learn throughout their
lives.
ii) People who can demonstrate positive attitudes and behaviors,
responsibility and adaptability.
iii) People who can work with others.

Thus, McLaughlin (1995) defines employability as a mix of skills that employers expect
to find in new recruits. Skill is then defined as a set of characteristics that make a
person employable, including knowledge, know-how, attitudes and behaviors.
The Dearing Report (1997) presents a more comprehensive list of skills and
argues that higher education should realise its aspiration to be world class in both
teaching and research through a compact with staff, students, government, employers
and society in general. The report supports the further development of a range of what it
calls ‘key’ skills during higher education: communication, both oral and written,
numeracy, the use of communications and information technology and learning how to
learn. The report argues that these are necessary outcomes of all higher education
programmes, namely:
i) Communication: speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.
ii) Application of Number: interpreting information involving numbers,
carrying out calculations, interpreting results and presenting findings
iii) Information Communication Technology: finding, exploring, developing
and presenting information including text, images and numbers
iv) Working with others: includes process and interpersonal skills to support
working cooperatively with others to achieve shared objectives, work
cooperatively and have regard for others
v) Improving own learning and performance: developing independent
learners who are clearly focused on what they want to achieve and able to
work towards targets that will improve the quality of their learning and
performance.
 vi) Problem solving: encouraging learners to develop and demonstrate their
ability to tackle problems systematically, for the purpose of working
towards their solution and learning from this process.

In the Dest Report (March 2002) “Employability Skills for the Future”, employers
were seeking highly skilled and generically skilled graduates. The report defines
employability as skills required not only to gain employment but also to progress within
an enterprise so as to achieve one’s potential and contribute successfully to enterprise
strategic directions’ [page 3]. The research offers an employability skill framework that
has three key terms which are personal attributes, skills and elements. These key skills
are explicitly defined with more sub-skills and examples. To illustrate this, personal
attributes encompasses: loyalty, commitment, honesty and integrity, enthusiasm,
reliability, personal presentation, commonsense, positive self-esteem, sense of humour,
balance to work and home life, ability to deal with pressure, motivation and adaptability.
All these definitions are similar in the way that they view employability as
primarily characteristics of an individual. In other words, employability is a set of
individuals’ skills and attributes. On the other hand, there are attempts to define
employability in a more holistic approach, for example, by the Canadian Labour Force
(1994), Hillage and Pollard (1998) and the Northern Ireland Executive (2002). The
literature developed by Hillage and Pollard (1998) offers this definition:
Employability is the capability to move self-sufficiency within the labour market to realize
potential through sustainable employment. For the individual, employability depends on
the knowledge, skills and attitudes they possess, the way they use these assets and
present them to employers and the context (e.g. personal circumstances and labour
market environment) within
which they seek work. [p.xi,1999]
What Hillage and Pollard (1998) term as ‘context’ is also emphasized in an example of a
broader concept of employability presented in the employability framework by McQuaid
and Lindsay (2005). It is a holistic framework of employability which comprises 3 main
interrelated components: individual factors, personal circumstances and external
factors. The component covering ‘individual factors’ involves: employability skills and
attributes, demographic characteristics, health and well-being, job seeking and
adaptability and mobility. The second component, the ‘personal circumstances’ lists:
household circumstances, work culture, and access to resources. The third component
which covers ‘external factors’ involves: demand factors and enabling support factors.

Employers’ Requirements towards graduates with computer related degrees

Bailey and Stefaniak (2001) identify the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs)
needed by computer programmer and, find that the shortage of computer personnel
comes from a lack of adequate skills not a lack of applicants. The study identified a total
of 85 skills that were important to computer programmers; these subdivide into technical
skills (53), soft skills (20) and business concepts (12). The three highest rated soft skills
are listening skills, problem-solving process and team work skills.
Aken and Michalisin (2007) state that there has been a significant level of
research carried out to determine the skills that are lacking in recent Information
Systems (IS) graduates. (Cheney, 1988 ; Watson et al, 1990; Nelson, 1991 ; Trauth et
al, 1993 ; Lee et al 1995 ; Litecky et al, 2006 ; Chappel, 2002 ; Woratschek and Lennox,
2002 ; Gallivan et al., 2004 ; Prabakar et al, 2005). They investigate the deficiencies of
Management in an Information Systems (MIS) programme from the employers’
perspective. The results are consistent in their conclusion that MIS graduates are
generally lacking in the quality of the skills that are of the most interest to employers.
Lastly, Haywood and Madden (2000) use a semantic differential format (Likert type
scale) in asking samples to rank the 9 generic skills. Their survey was distributed
through email to working graduates to find what are the knowledge and skills needed in
the computer technology workforce. Samples ranked time management as the most
important skill to be learned and applied in the workplace.
Where skills are concerned, there is a similar scenario in Malaysia. The
Malaysian National Computer Association reports that many unemployed ICT graduates
lacked learning skills particularly “how to learn from more experienced people”, and
were deficient in communication, teamwork and problem-solving skills (New Straits
Times, 2004). Consequently, this paper will first consider the graduates of Computer
Science; and seek the reasons for unemployment from the graduates’ point of view.
Then, the prospective employers of these graduates will compliment the findings by
identifying the skills that are important to them when they are employing new staff at
their companies. In addition, this study integrates and adapts both the “individual
factors” and “external factors” components in the employability framework by McQuaid
and Lindsay (2005) in a questionnaire to employers to seek reasons for unemployment
among graduates in Malaysia. Finally, the research question which follows is divided
into two parts to examine this phenomenon of graduate unemployment from this dual
perspective.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research question separates into two parts to examine both graduates and
employers and are:
1. What are the reasons for unemployment in recent graduates of Computer
Science 2006 from graduates’ point of view?

2. What are the skills that employers of Information and Communication

Technology (ICT) related companies seek in new graduates?

METHOD

Method 1: The on-line survey to graduates of Computer Science 2006

This method examines the first research question relating to graduates. For this
purpose a web-page address linked to local media with an on-line questionnaire was
designed specifically for this study. The items in the questionnaire are based on
responses to the graduate unemployment phenomenon in Malaysia which is widely
discussed in local media. It consists of 4 multiple choice questions and a space where
graduates can comment on the unemployment issue. In addition, 190 questionnaires
were sent out to graduates of Computer Science 2005/2006 of a public university in
Malaysia. 16 % returned usable responses. Responses were analyzed using content
analysis based on the four main reasons of unemployment: the graduates, English,
government and universities.

Method 2: The postal questionnaire to employers of ICT related companies

The questionnaire is specifically designed to examine the second part of the
research question which is directed towards employers in the ICT sector. The items in
this questionnaire are adapted from McQuaid and Lindsay’s (2005) employability
framework.
440 questionnaires were posted out to employers of ICT related companies listed with
the Multimedia Super Corridor Malaysia. 9.1% returned usable responses. Responses
were analysed using content analysis of the open ended questions. A conceptual
analysis of data is performed where the existence and frequency of a concept is noted
and represented in percentage form. In this case, the concepts are again: the
graduates, English, government and universities.
For example, for question 1, using MS Excel, all the responses from 40
employers is listed in column 1. 3 questions are applied to each response:
i) Is it a positive response? (answer in Column 2)
ii) Is it a negative response? (answer in Column 3)
iii) Is it a neutral comment? (answer in Column 4)
Whenever the answer is ‘yes’, ‘1’ is placed in the respective columns. At the end of the
coding, each column is summed up to obtain the total. This total is then turned to a
percentage and the results are presented in graphic form.
A similar method was used for questions 2, 3, 4 and 5.

FINDINGS
1. Online questionnaire
The online questionnaire lists four main reasons for unemployment: the graduates,
English proficiency, government and universities. The findings are displayed in figure 1
which follows.

Figure 1: Reasons for unemployment from graduates’ point of view

The findings reveal:
1. The graduates: 40% of graduates agree that they themselves are to be blamed for
being jobless because they are not pressured to find jobs.
2. English proficiency: 40% of graduates agree that if more courses at university level
are conducted in English, it will help them secure a job. Another 40% of graduates
agree that having low English proficiency makes them not confident especially during
interview.3. Government: 76% of graduates says that they have enrolled themselves in
a course with no job prospects. In the late 90s, the Government announced that there
will be ample job opportunity in ICT sectors, the universities doubled students intake,
and resulted in more graduates than jobs.
4. Universities: 64% of graduates blame the teaching methodology at universities as too
conservative and rigid: “chalk and talk” with nothing to nurture them into being an all-
rounder and making them marketable for the job market.

2. Postal Questionnaire to Employers

This questionnaire has two parts, namely, 5 open-ended questions as well as a listing of
the employability skills that employers consider to be necessary. The employability
skills come under the 4 headings of: essential attributes, personal competencies,
transferable skills, job seeking skills. Employers rank these skills from the most
important to the least important as they contain the following clusters of skills:

1. Essential attributes : Basic social skills, honesty and integrity, basic

personal presentation, reliability, willingness to work, understanding
of actions and consequences, positive attitude to work,
responsibility and self-discipline
2. Personal Competencies: proactive, diligence, self-motivation,
judgement, initiative, assertiveness, confidence and act
autonomously
 3. Job seeking skills: awareness and effective use of informal and
social networks, ability to complete CVs/application forms,
interview skills/presentation and awareness of strengths and
weaknesses
The findings are:
1. For Essential Attributes, the skills according to their importance as rated by
employers are:
1. Positive attitude
2. Honesty and integrity
3. Responsibility
4. Willingness to work
5. Self-discipline
6. Reliability
7. Understanding of actions and consequences
8. Basic social skills
9. Basic personal presentation
2. For Personal Competencies, the skills according to their importance as rated by
employers are:
1. Initiative
2. Proactivity
3. Self motivation
4. Diligence
5. Confidence
6. Judgment
7. Assertiveness
8. Act autonomously
3. For Transferable Skills, the first 10 skills rated according to their importance by
employers:
1. Team working
2. Problem solving
3. Adaptability
4. Basic ICT skills
5. Reasoning
6. Job-specific skills
7. Work-process management
8. Basic interpersonal and communication skills
9. Emotional and aesthetic customer service skills
10. Writing
4. For Job seeking, the skills rated according to their importance by the employers:
1. Awareness of strengths and weaknesses
2. Interview skills/presentation
3. Ability to complete CVs/application forms
4. Awareness and effective use of informal social networks
The next five open-ended questions are outlined below and are followed by the
breakdown of the responses in figure 2:
Question 1: How do you view the current state of education with regard to preparing
graduates
for employment within your company?
Question 2: Can you foresee any changes in employers’ skills requirement which will
necessitate changes in the education and training in next five years?
Question 3: What are the key features of an employable person?
Question 4: Do you have any comments on the high number of unemployed graduates
in Malaysia?
Question 5: Do you have any other comments on any related issues to the high
number of jobless graduates in Malaysia?
Figure 2: Responses to open ended questions in questionnaire to
employers
The responses are:

Question 1: How do you view the current state of education with regard to preparing
graduates
for employment within your company?

78% gave negative, 14% neutral and 8% positive response.

Examples of responses:

Positive response: The graduates are equipped with some working skills from
internship training.
Negative response: Too much focus on theory.
Neutral response: As a small ICT company, we do field training and all training is
internal, depends on heads of departments.

Question 2: Can you foresee any changes in employers’ skills requirement which will
necessitate changes in the education and training in next five years?

91% of responses stated they can foresee changes while 9% said things will remain the
same.
Out of the 91% responses which stated they can foresee changes; 59% wrote about
changes in employability skills.
Question 3: What are the key features of an employable person?
From the responses, 46% mentioned skills in the essential attributes list, 31% skills in
the transferable skills list , 19% in the personal competencies list and 4% in the job
seeking skills list. It is interesting to note that from the 46% responses which mentioned
skills in essential attributes list, 51% of the responses had the word ‘attitude’.
Question 4: Do you have any comments on the high number of unemployed graduates
in Malaysia?

The majority of the employers (64%) commented on graduates, with18% on

universities,12% on employers and 6% on the government.
Question 5: Do you have any other comments on any related issues to the high
number of jobless graduates in Malaysia?

Again, the highest percentage is 62% comment on the graduates, 17% on universities,
17% on employers and 4% on government.

Discussion
The main findings of this paper concern the question why graduates are unemployed
and this can be seen from two perspectives, namely graduates and employers. The
following 3 comments from the data illustrate the nature of the difficulties that graduates
consider they face in terms of their own attitudes, language proficiency, government and
universities:
1. Respondent 4: English proficiency is very important especially during an interview.
The courses conducted in the university were not carried out in English so graduates
have less self confidence when being interviewed by companies which use English as
medium of interaction. The course syllabus is not challenging and competitive enough
to equip students with the computing skills needed in the job market. Lastly, most
companies seek graduates with experience apart from being able to use English and
have computing skills.

2. Respondent 11: My opinion is that graduates are to be blamed because they are too
choosy. They should have own initiative to strive harder and upgrade their knowledge
and skills in computing to make them more marketable.

3. Respondent 17: I think the graduates are jobless because of their own attitude. Being
lazy, they go for easy jobs but want high salaries although inexperienced, and they are
afraid of challenges. I think being in the ICT field, there are many suitable jobs for
graduates.

Consequently, it can be concluded from their responses that graduates:

1. lack skills for the job market

2. realize that English is important : they claimed to be less confident because
they do not have proficiency in English
3. say that what is taught at the university does not supplement what is needed
outside
4. admit that they are jobless because of themselves. This can be deduced from
words in their comments: choosy, not able to communicate, average exam
grades, seek high pay but inexperienced, not wanting to start low, lazy, and
negative and they don’t try hard enough.

From an employer’s perspective, the top skills that they desire in new graduates
are: positive attitude, initiative, team player and awareness of own strength and
weaknesses.78% of employers gave negative comments when relating the education
system to unemployment of graduates. 91% of employers foresee changes in job
requirements in graduates and 59% say changes will concern employability skills. Most
employers mention that an employable graduate has to have skills under an essential
skills list. Finally, 51% of employers stress graduates’ attitude in relation to
unemployment while 64% of employers relate unemployment to graduates themselves.

Conclusions and implications

This study represents one of the first attempts to investigate the reasons for
unemployment of computer science graduates in Malaysia. From the analysis of the
results, it can be concluded that computer science graduates of Malaysia are reflective
when they say that graduates themselves are to be blamed for being jobless. The four
highest rated skills by employers of ICT related companies are positive attitude,
initiative, team working and awareness of own strengths and weaknesses.
Consequently, this study suggests three ways in which tertiary higher education
can start instilling good employability skills and attitudes in future graduates:
 i) Affective teaching and learning in the curriculum. Teaching and learning
should prepare graduates to harness their potential to meet skills required by
employers (Ab. Rahim et al, 2007, Quek, A.H, 2005)

ii) Reinforcement of students’ emotional quotient (EQ). Through competence in

emotional literacy, students are believed to have better life chances and
achieve success. (Thanet Excellence Cluster)

iii) Recognizing and appreciating lecturers who are not only committed to
teaching and learning but are also sensitive to the well being of students. A
good lecturer is described as being accessible, enthusiastic and passionate
.Students want lecturers who they can connect to, learn with and be inspired
by (Wright, 2005). If greater recognition is given to teaching abilities and its
value in the academic world, it will effectively develop both the profession and
that of the students’ knowledge, skills and competencies in the future (Van
Fleet and Peterson, 2005)

Finally, this study also serves as a pilot study to suggest areas for further research,
particularly around the use of critical thinking strategies to enhance graduates’
employability.

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