PM Launches Talent Roadmap 2020

Putrajaya, 24 April 2012 – Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) today unveiled a comprehensive roadmap which sets out TalentCorp’s strategic focus and initiatives till 2020, in addressing Malaysia’s talent needs arising from the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

Launched by the Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, the Talent Roadmap 2020 is designed to address underlying issues affecting talent availability in Malaysia as well as address the talent needs arising from key industries driving the national economic transformation agenda.

“Malaysia aspires to emerge a developed nation and a global talent destination. The Roadmap sets out the goal of Malaysia by 2020 to be among the top 20 nations in the world as a talent destination,” said YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib, who is also Chairman of TalentCorp.

“Malaysian talent is our most precious resource. To optimise on Malaysian homegrown talent will be TalentCorp’s priority,” he added.

Under the Talent Roadmap 2020, TalentCorp will act as a focal point on talent issues and will drive initiatives anchored on three strategic thrusts: (1) Optimise Malaysian Talent (2) Attract and Facilitate Global Talent (3) Build Networks of Top Talent

The Prime Minister called upon the leading employers in the corporate sector to work with the Government to advance the national talent agenda. At the same time, he commended the initiatives showcased at the Roadmap launch today as demonstrating strong public private sector collaboration on Malaysian talent.

“The success of our economic transformation relies on the ability to act collectively and cohesively to nurture, attract and retain talent,” said YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib.

Optimise Malaysian Talent

The strategic thrust to ‘Optimise Malaysian Talent’ includes initiatives by TalentCorp to raise career awareness, promote enhanced internships, coordinate graduate upskilling programmes and optimise on Government scholars.

Towards this end, TalentCorp entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today with the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) on various areas for collaboration. An initiative showcased today was MyLinE – 4E, whereby online content would be contributed by leading employers towards raising graduate awareness of careers and enhancing employability.

MyLineE (The Online Resources for Learning In English) is an existing MoHE portal spearheaded by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), accessible by all students at 20 public universities. Under the 4E (For Employment) project with MyLineE, 10 leading employers today pledged their commitment to provide industry-driven content to provide graduates an insight into both technical and soft skills required for their careers. The 10 companies were Accenture, Axiata, CIMB, Ernst & Young, Intel, PwC, Maxis, Maybank, Motorola and Telekom Malaysia.

The MoU with MoHE also included collaborating on internships. In Budget 2012, the Government had announced a double tax deduction incentive for companies with structured internship programmes endorsed by TalentCorp. This incentive would now be extended to oil & gas companies under PITA (Petroleum Income Tax Act).

TalentCorp also today endorsed six sector-focused internship programmes covering National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) through collaborations with industry associations, regulators and universities. Together with other ongoing structured internship programmes, these will provide 12,000 places per year for Malaysian undergraduates at local public and private universities.

The six sector-focused programmes endorsed were by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (Telecommunications), Association of Banks Malaysia (Finance), Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (Accounting), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (Oil & Gas), University College of Technology & Innovation (ICT) and Taylor’s University (Hospitality).

TalentCorp will also collaborate with the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department to coordinate graduate upskilling programmes across various Ministries. The upskilling programmes are projected to benefit 10,000 graduates per year, mainly engineers and involve an allocation of RM200 million per annum. These upskilling programmes would focus on high technology areas relating to the NKEAs and implemented on a public-private partnership basis. Showcased today at the launch was the FasTrack programme, focused on accelerating top engineering graduates into an R&D career. The programme is jointly funded by the public and private sectors with curriculum developed by the industry partners (Agilent, Altera, Intel, Motorola, Siltera).

Additionally, TalentCorp and the Public Service Department (JPA) will collaborate to ensure JPA scholars are optimised in contributing to the priority areas of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and ETP.

As announced by YAB Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib today, beginning this year, scholarships to university will be awarded on the basis of requiring all JPA scholars to serve their bond working in Malaysia, either in public sector or approved companies in the private sector. This is to ensure that the country gains a strong return on investment on the 12,000 students who will be sponsored this year, involving an allocation of RM 2.44 billion. Previously, JPA scholarships involved a bond to work only in the public sector.

Attract and Facilitate Global Talent

To address the talent needs of the priority sectors under the ETP, TalentCorp will drive interventions that focus on Malaysians in Malaysia and in addition, measures targeted at Malaysians abroad and top foreign talent. Efforts to attract and facilitate the return of Malaysians abroad will focus on raising awareness of professional opportunities in Malaysia and providing platforms for leading employers to engage with both students and professionals.

A key platform to engage with students is career fairs. In Budget 2012, the Government had announced a double tax deduction incentive for companies participating in overseas career fairs endorsed by TalentCorp. This incentive would now also be extended to oil & gas companies under PITA.

TalentCorp announced endorsing career fairs in UK, USA, Japan and Australia. The recent UKEC-Graduan career fair in UK at end of March 2012 witnessed the largest ever overseas Malaysian career fair with the participation of almost 40 companies and attended by more than 3,000 students.

Engagement with Malaysian professionals abroad would be sector focused. At today’s launch, the Ministry of Health (MoH) and TalentCorp exchanged an MoU to collaborate on, among others, the facilitation of returning medical specialists. Earlier this month, TalentCorp and MoH, together with private hospitals KPJ, Pantai Parkway and Mahkota engaged with Malaysian medical professionals in UK and Ireland. TalentCorp also exchanged an MoU with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) today. The Prime Minister announced that the collaboration included the formation of a joint committee involving MoHA, the Immigration Department, TalentCorp and relevant agencies to coordinate expatriate-related policies and oversee innovations in services. The Residence Pass – Talent was introduced in April 2011 to provide top foreign professionals with a 10 year pass to work and reside in Malaysia. YAB Prime Minister announced today that the Residence Pass – Talent would now be extended to include knowledge based entrepreneurs.

Build Networks of Top Talent

As set out in the Talent Roadmap 2020, TalentCorp aims to build networks of top talent which will include future corporate leaders in Malaysia and also eminent Malaysians abroad. One focus area in engaging with eminent Malaysians abroad would be to explore avenues for them to contribute from abroad, such as in an advisory capacity.

To download the Talent Roadmap 2020, please click here