Sains Malaysiana 36(2): 213-223 (2007)

Persepsi Pelajar Terhadap Atribut Pekerjaan dan

Implikasinya ke atas Pendidikan Universiti

(Students’ Perceptions on Employment Attributes and

Their Implications on University Education)

Usha Malini Maniam & Liong Choong Yeun

Pusat Pengajian Sains Matematik, Fakulti Sains dan Teknologi

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor D.E

Malaysia

Diserahkan: 11 Januari 2007 / Diterima: 15 Mac 2007

ABSTRAK

Globalisasi dan dunia ICT masa kini telah meningkatkan lagi permintaan terhadap tenaga buruh yang berkualiti. Majikan pada hari ini sudah tidak lagi berpegang kepada persepsi bahawa pengetahuan akademik semata-mata adalah mencukupi malah mereka telah menyarankan agar institusi pengajian tinggi dapat melahirkan siswazah yang mempunyai kemahiran boleh-pindah yang tinggi demi meningkatkan peluang mereka untuk mendapatkan pekerjaan. Saranan sedemikian kian mendapat tempat memandangkan statistik kebelakangan ini menunjukkan pengangguran di kalangan siswazah adalah semakin meningkat di negara ini. Makalah ini membincangkan persepsi pelajar tahun akhir Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia terhadap atribut pekerjaan dari segi kepentingannya dan tahap kemahiran atau keupayaan mereka sendiri. Kajian ini merangkumi pelajar jurusan sains dan sastera. Tahap kepuasan pelajar dari aspek program pengajian dan  pengalaman di universiti secara keseluruhan turut dinilai. Seramai 200 orang pelajar pra-siswazah tahun akhir telah dipilih secara pensampelan rawak berstratum dan data yang diperoleh diproses menggunakan kaedah-kaedah analisis min, ujian-t dan analisis varians. Keputusan analisis mendapati pelajar menilai tahap kepentingan kemahiran-kemahiran itu lebih tinggi daripada tahap kemahiran mereka sendiri dan terdapat perbezaan di antara tahap kemahiran daripada aspek jurusan, jantina, PNGK dan etnik. Pada keseluruhannya, pelajar didapati berpuas hati dengan program pengajian, pengalaman di universiti dan persediaan kerjaya masing-masing. Walau bagaimanapun, daripada hasil kajian ini terdapat beberapa aspek yang perlu diberi tumpuan terutamanya aspek sokongan dan bimbingan dari staf akademik dan pihak universiti dalam perancangan kerjaya pelajar serta penambaikan kemudahan pelajar.

Kata kunci: Pelajar; persepsi; pendidikan tinggi; keupayaan; kemahiran; Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Globalisation and the advacement in ICT has intensified the demand for quality workforce. Today, employers no longer perceive academic competence alone to be sufficient and began calling for higher education institutions to produce graduates with highly developed transferable skills. Such request gains more weight recently as latest statistics has shown that unemployment among graduates has risen steadily in this country. This paper discusses the perceptions of the final year students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia) on the importance of and their levels of competency in job attributes. This study covers both the students of the sciences and the arts streams. Besides that, the students’ overall  level of satisfaction on their courses and their university experiences as a whole is also assessed. A total of 200 final year undergraduate students have been sampled using stratified sampling and the data obtained were processed using analysis of the mean, t-test and analysis of variance. Results of the analyses showed that students tend to rate the importance of the skills more highly than their own ability and there are differences on levels of competency between gender, types of stream, GPA and ethnic groups. On the whole students tend to be satisfied with their programmes of studies and the university, and with the level of preparation for their future careers. However, the results show that some aspects need immediate attention particularly support and guidance from the academic staff and the university in terms of student’s career planning and the improvement of the facilities provided.

Keywords: Students; perception; higher education; abilities; skills; Malaysia

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