Kuala Nerus—Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) on Monday received a visit from Deputy Minister of Higher Education Dato’ Dr Mansor Othman. This was a second visit to UMT this year by the ministry’s top management. Earlier, Minister of Higher Education Dato’ Dr Noraini Ahmad was here as part of her scheduled visits to higher education institutions in the east coast.

Dato’ Dr Mansor in his speech said that the purpose of his visit was to assess entrepreneurship implementation at higher education institutions in the east coast with the intention of drafting several initiatives for it.

“This agenda is in line with the aspirations of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-2025 (Higher Education), which are to inculcate entrepreneurial mindset in higher education system, and create an education system that can produce entrepreneurial-minded graduates who can generate job opportunities and ensure the financial sustainability of higher education institutions in the country,” Dato’ Dr Mansor said.    

He also said that the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the globe has made it challenging for entrepreneurs to survive in the business world. As such, they need to possess all the vital knowledge to overcome the problem.

“The perseverant attitude must exist in all Malaysian entrepreneurs if they wish to compete at the global level,” he said.   

“Graduates must have similar attitude and need to change their mindset, to be those who create jobs instead of working for monthly income,” he said further.

Dato’ Dr Mansor was later taken on a visit to UMT Oyster Mushroom Project that is collectively managed by a community of 15 single mothers, an industrial partner, and 15 UMT students.

Meanwhile, UMT Vice Chancellor Professor Dato’ Dr Nor Aieni Mokhtar in her speech said that entrepreneurship education has been implemented comprehensively at UMT through its entrepreneurship ecosystem.

“The Career and Entrepreneurship Centre under UMT Student Affairs and Alumni Division has been organizing programmes on careers and entrepreneurship,” Professor Dato’ Dr Nor Aieni said.

She said that ten percent of UMT graduates have become entrepreneurs in various fields as the statistics in 2019 revealed. She also said that the figure surpassed the national target of six percent.  

UMT welcomed government’s effort in making entrepreneurship as one of the career options upon graduation, which will help to reduce unemployment rate among graduates, she said.

Published by:
Corporate Communication Centre
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu