National Rail Centre of Excellence formation to attract more students in TVET

KUALA LUMPUR: The setting up of the National Rail Centre of Excellence set out in Budget 2018 will not only make railway a major industry in the country but is also expected to attract more students to enrol in Technical and Vocational Training (TVET).
Expressing his support, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) Chairman Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin said the move would go a long way in fulfilling the government's aspiration to turn Malaysia into a high-income nation by 2020.
He said Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), a full-fledged Mara institution of higher learning, is directly involved in the railway industry through the Rail Academy which offers programmes and academic syllabus related to the rail industry.
"Mara also has a maintenance and repair training centre at the new UniKL-Malaysian Institute of Aviation Technology (UniKL-MIAT) branch in Subang.
"The centre services Boeing 777 aircraft not only from Malaysia, but also from abroad and for every Boeing 777 airplane serviced, it earns about RM7 million to RM8 million per month, quite a high revenue," he told reporters after officiating the MARA Transport Summit 2017 here today.
The Rail Academy was developed by Prasarana Malaysia Bhd's subsidiary, Rapid Rail Sdn Bhd and UniKL into a centre of excellence in rail expertise.
Awang Adik said these centres of excellence served as a springboard for Malaysia in its march towards a high-income nation.
On the two-day conference, Awang Adik said it was the best platform to expose the National Land Public Transport Master Plan (Ripad) to national transport industry players.
"This conference is aimed at exposing Ripad to the industry, especially bus operators so that they can make plans in line with Malaysia's aspiration and goal towards becoming a high-income nation by providing a high-impact public transport," he said.
Mara has technical and vocational training, as well as the expertise required by the industry, he said, adding that, equipped with the resources and expertise, Mara was ready to play its role in preparing the manpower for the industry. — Bernama