Institutional networking and internationalization has been included as one of the institutional Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in most universities´ blueprints in Malaysia. The “eighth shift”, which is one particular strategy of the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Ministry of Higher Education 2013), specifically demands that internationalization initiatives are to intensify networking and collaboration with international institutions of higher education. For that reason, a networking and internationalization agenda is critically important for Malaysian Technical Universities. This paper discusses the role of networking and internationalization of universities for developing the academic staffs’ competency, focusing on staff mobility, regional collaboration as in the Regional Association for Vocational Teacher Education in Asia (RAVTE) and competencies through professional accreditation. Initially the paper explores the roles of networking and internationalization in the context of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and how it has been introduced and practiced in higher education, and then, we discuss how universities’ networking and internationalization contribute to staff mobility, research, and technical skills development.

Download

The current pre-service training undertaken by Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) teachers in higher learning institutions cannot be expected to provide adequate occupational skills. Thus further additional training is necessary to raise the vocational competence of TVET teachers. The purpose of this article is to discuss the current provisions for further training under the Malaysian Ministry of Education’s (MoE) TVET system. The discussion presented in this article is one of the outputs of a Regional Cooperation Platform (RCP) project that evaluates the curriculum for further training in occupational skills for vocational teachers with a particular focus on the field of metal cutting. Document analysis, focus group discussions and interviews were conducted to gather data for this project.

Download