Business

Monday October 19, 2009

World-class human capital for Iskandar

By ZAZALI MUSA


UTM and Iskandar Regional Development Authority identify 14 initiatives

JOHOR BARU: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s (UTM) Iskandar Malaysia Research Centre (IMrec) is partnering Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda) to develop world-class human capital for Iskandar Malaysia, the country’s first economic growth corridor.

Both parties have identified 14 initiatives deemed vital under the Iskandar Malaysia Human Capital Development Blueprint (HCDB) for the development of Iskandar.

The first initiative to be launched tomorrow is the Iskandar Malaysia Graduate Leadership, Assessment and Development Programme (IMglad).

Next will be the Contractors Development Programme and the Local Authority Development Programme either towards year-end or early 2010.

The initiatives would support the development of Iskandar under its Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) from 2006 until 2025, IMrec executive director Prof Dr Abdul Ghani Khalid told StarBiz.

UTM’s Iskandar Malaysia Research Centre (right) in Danga Bay, Johor Baru. On the left is the office building housing the Iskandar Regional Development Authority and Iskandar Investment Bhd.

He said IMrec had decided to launch those initiatives first as they focused on training and development aspects and would add synergistic value to Iskandar.

Ghani said producing world-class human capital was deemed vital if Iskandar wanted to emerge as a sustainable metropolis of international standing.

With the Iskandar HCDB in place, the special economic corridor would be in a better position to attract local and foreign investors.

“This is our long-term plan for the next 30 to 40 years to produce future leaders and captains of the industry not only for Iskandar but also for the country,” Ghani said.

Although HCDB was specially tailored for Iskandar, the initiatives could also be implemented in other economic growth corridors nationwide, he added.

In 2006, Iskandar became the first economic growth corridor to be launched in Malaysia, followed by the Northern Corridor Economic Region, East Coast Economic Region, Sabah Development Corridor and Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy.

IMrec, launched early this year, focuses on research and training development pertaining to projects and programmes within Iskandar.

»This is our longterm plan to produce future leaders and captains of the industry not only for Iskandar but also for the country« PROF DR ABDUL GHANI KHALID

It acts as a one-stop centre for management and co-ordination of expertise necessary to support Iskandar under its CDP.

UTM has compiled about 30 research proposals for Irda related to the development of Iskandar, with another 20 proposals from other public universities, according to Ghani, who hopes that a special fund to conduct research projects could be allocated to IMrec in Budget 2010.

IMrec said it focused on IMglad as the first initiative as the programme acknowledged the importance of young graduates to shape Iskandar’s future.

IMglad is the result of a collaboration between IMrec and Deloitte to develop a graduate leadership programme based on the highly successful United Kingdom Deloitte Employability Centre. The programme is known as GLAD in Britain.

Ghani said IMrec wanted to work with Deloitte as the latter was ranked No. 1 in the world in terms of human capital development.

Fresh graduates from all disciplines and those who have been working less than 12 months with a minimum CGPA of 2.8 and are active in co-curricular activities can apply for IMglad.

The programme’s syllabus, among others, covers effective communication, leadership development, team working skills, self improvement and self confidence development.

The first batch of 600 IMglad participants will be fully sponsored by Irda and they will attend a three-month classroom training.

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