The Manpower Planning Council (MPC) is setting up a Labour Management Information System aimed at tracking and reducing graduate unemployment, said the Minister of Education.
During a meeting of the Legislative Council on Wednesday, Education Minister YB Dato Paduka Hj Hamzah Hj Sulaiman said the system will be able to provide data on job demand from different industries and the private sector.
Higher educational institutions will also be able to map their curriculum and courses to make them relevant relevant to the job market, he added.
The MPC is working with the “International Level Office” to obtain data but no timeline was mentioned for the completion of the system. The council was established in 2016 to reduce unemployment and channel human resource into growth industries.
The minister said the implementation of the system will carry certain implications — courses will removed or scaled down to ensure that Brunei’s tertiary graduates remain marketable.
The minister noted that graduate unemployment is a challenging issue and the ministry has identified certain courses where there is a surplus of graduates who have yet to find employment. However, he did not elaborate further.
In the past year, the MPC has introduced several initiatives to tackle graduate unemployment such as the i-Ready Apprenticeship scheme. A total of $43 million has been allocated for i-Ready and the Centre for Capacity Building in the upcoming financial year to help create employment for youth.