By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Abd Ra’ai Osman

BANGI, 12 Jan 2016 – The  National University of Malaysia (UKM) is collaborating with several multinationals and local firms and a statutory body to develop a lab where students will get hands-on training from the privates sector to make them more employable after they graduate, said UKM Pro Vice- Chancellor (Income Generation and Development) Prof Dr Nor Ghani Md Nor.

He said the effort will be achieved through a network that UKM develops with industry leaders, policy makers and the media,

“Our aim is to develop the Global Business Services research Group (GBSRG) as a leading GBS research and training centre in Malaysia, Asia and beyond. Such impact will be achieved through the network that we develop with industry leaders, policy makers and the media,” he explained when officiating the International Seminar On Global Business Services (GBS) 2016.

He expressed hope that the businesses will enrich the graduates with work experiences and profesional ethics and competencies.

He considered the biggest challenge to employers now is how to attract and retain talent with the specific knowledge and skills required by companies in the Industry.

“Future graduates from various faculties will be equipped with the knowledge and skills required to increase their employability in the GSB Industry in order to make them more confident.

“ UKM aims to develop a GBSRG as a leading Global Business Services research and training centre in Malaysia and beyond, ” he declared.

He said the two-day course will also serve as an introduction and exposure to the GSB industry – sometimes knows as Shared Services and Outsourcing- in order to provide graduates the confidence to start their careers.

According to him, some GSB firms have set up their training lab in UKM to provide hands-on learning experiences to students, saying it would provide essential resources for GSB  firms, academicians and students to learn and share knowledge on all aspects of GSB activities.

“For example Sigmax-E with the support of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) have started Impact Sourcing Lab at UKM. It is a collaborative venture that aims to provide hand-on training opportunities for students from various faculties and to ensure that students will gain experience like working with real GBS firms doing accounting, business and IT processing,” he clarified.

Sigmax-E is a Malaysian company that does business process outsourcing and business support services.

Speakers at the seminar included representatives of MDeC, Shell Pte LtD Co, Loughborough University UK and TalentCorp, the agency that looks for Malaysian talent abroad to persuade them to return and work for local firms.