SYNOPSIS

One of the major concerns in Malaysia today is the high unemployment rate of our graduates. While unemployment can be attributed to multiple factors such as slow economic growth, industrial stagnation, lack of investment etc., it is not the only important aspect. From the perspective of academia, the job market may be slow especially in the era of the Covid-19 pandemic while the industry may pin the blame on the unavailability of quality resources. Throw into that the differences in terms of expectations and attitudes between the baby boomer generation who by now are in the upper management level and the millennials who form the vast majority of graduates; you then have a mismatch. This talk is expected to identify the gap between the industry and academia and goes into details on how to bridge this gap. It also will take the post-Covid perspective into account and promises to be a provocative and engaging session.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Prof. Tan Sri. Dato Dr. Dzulkifli Abdul Razak is the current Rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).  He was the ‎Vice Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) from 2000-2011. He is the immediate past president of the International Association of Universities (IAU), a UNESCO-affiliated organisation, based in Paris. Tan Sri Dzul was awarded the prestigious 2017 Gilbert Medal by Universitas 21 in recognition of “his long-term commitment to a sustainable approach to international higher education." He is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (FASc), the World Academy of Art and Science (FWAAS) and the World Academy of Islamic Management (FWAIM).

Tan Sri Dzul was an Honorary Professor at the University of Nottingham from 2014 until August 2020, and more recently appointed Senior Advisor at Asia-Europe Institute (AEI), UM. He is also the Co-Chair of Right Livelihood College Steering Committee based at University of Bonn, and an Advisory Board Member, Institute of Sustainable Development and Learning at Leuphana University of  Luneburg, Germany from June 2019‎. In October 2020, he was appointed as a member of Qatar Foundation Higher Education Strategy Advisory Panel.  In February 2021, he was invited to serve as an Expert for the Futures of Higher Education Project at UNESCO’s Institute for Higher Education (IESALC).

Tan Sri Dzul was awarded the 2017 Tokoh Akademik Negara (National Academic Laureate) and recipient of number of Honorary Doctorate from various international universities.  In addition, the Government of Japan, in recognition of his contribution to the academic collaboration and exchanges between the two nations has conferred him “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon” in September 2019.