Career Development

Vision 2020 Malaysia is to progress towards achieving developed country status by the time. To get there, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, Chairman of Perdana Leadership Foundation, or Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana in Putrajaya, says, “Our graduates must be able to communicate in the English Language, as this is the language of international business. At the individual level, I think that if our people are generally unable to conduct themselves in English, it will set us back on the internetional front.”

Besides fluency, if not mastery, in the English Language, Tun Dr. Mahathir is of the view that the country needs graduates who have a competitive spirit if Malaysia is to play an important role in the world affair. “Having a competitive spirit is critical,” says Tun. “In the increasingly globalised and borderless world, people and countries are competing against one another. We will fail if we don’t have the ability to compete.”

“But the development of this ability to compete, “explains Tun, “depends on our values system, which in turn is a cultural issue. Together with competitiveness, the values we need to have in order to succeed are an appreciation of time management, the importance of quality in the work and things we produce, the need to work hard.” University students must know that in the outside world, what counts is strength of character, willingness to work hard, dicipline in terms of time and quality of work. The students should be practicing these values as they go about their studies.