A LOT has been said about the Human Resource Development Corporation’s (HRD Corp) intention of proposing that all training programmes registered with HRD Corp and offered to its registered employers must be micro-credential ready.
A micro-credential is essentially a pathway and delivery process that provides for evidence that learning outcomes have been acquired by a learner, or in this case an employee, after having attended a course or learning experience.
This is then measured according to domains related to the knowledge, skills and attitude, pre-learning, during and post-learning.
Following the height of the pandemic and amid a global economic slowdown, Malaysia is facing a pressing talent shortage across almost every business and organisation.
There is an acknowledgement that there is a lack of workers who possess the skills that match the roles required of them. It has become very challenging to find employees with the appropriate skills and talents, an impasse now known as the “skills gap”.
At this juncture, let me also state why HRD Corp has been entrusted by the Government to address issues related to the supply of talents in Malaysia.
“Our powers and functions”
The Human Resources Development Act 2001 or Act 612 provides for the “imposition and collection of a human resources development levy for the purpose of promoting the training and development of employees, apprentices and trainees, the establishment and the administration of the fund by the corporation and for matters connected therewith”.
Part II of the Act under Clause 4, which covers the Functions of the Corporation, outlines the function of the corporation, namely:
- To assess and determine the types and extent of employees’, apprentices’ and trainees’ training and retraining, in keeping with the human resources needs of industries.
- To promote and stimulate manpower training, and;
- To determine the terms and conditions under which any financial assistance or other benefits are to be given.
This should address any stakeholders’ concerns who may be unclear as to the powers and the function of HRD Corp.
Coming back to the need for micro-credentials. Most people tend to equate micro-credentials to a pathway for the acquisition of an academic qualification and cannot seem to see beyond that, even though micro-credentials are considered a disrupter of the traditional modes of education.
The micro-credential framework introduced by HRD Corp is unlike the framework introduced by the Malaysian Qualifying Agency (MQA), an organisation tasked with overseeing the pathways that lead to academic credentialing per se.
HRD Corp’s micro-credential efforts focus on bite-sized qualifications that demonstrate skills, knowledge and/or experience in a specific subject area or capability, hence the focus being on competencies and skills.
Micro-credentials offer numerous benefits for employees, employers and organisations of all sizes from every industry.
The HRD Corp micro-credential journey started in 2018 and eventually led to the setting up of a committee called the Program Review and Accreditation Committee (PRAC), comprising industry leaders and experts from academia.
HRD Corp has taken great care to design a framework for micro-credentials that is flexible, portable, and cost-effective to implement. The framework is designed to increase employee engagement and support employers by promoting a culture of lifelong learning.
Issues and challenges being addressed
What are the issues and challenges faced by HRD Corp and training providers in the past that HRD Corp is trying to address?
Scalable and cost-effective training. Investing in training programmes, especially in partnerships with universities, can come with a big price tag. In 2019 alone, HRD Corp provided financial assistance via its levy fund to training providers, amounting to RM93 mil for certificates of little value.
This is because the awarding bodies lacked the standing to issue those certificates, leading to very little value add. The certificates also did not provide evidence that learning or skills transfer had taken place.
This RM93 mil is equivalent to an average of RM537 per certificate, per person. To put things in perspective, this RM93 mil only accounted for less than 5% of courses offered by HRD Corp through training providers. More than 95% of courses did not even come with any form of certification.
For employers looking for employees who are competent, engaged and productive, scalable training programmes like micro-credentialed courses can offer a cost-effective way to maintain competitiveness and meet the changing needs of the market.
Customisable learning. Micro-credentials offer a more personalied and on-demand learning experience; a worker can quickly learn what he needs, apply it on the job and immediately have a credential to show for his accomplishment.
What is HRD Corp’s core responsibility with regards to the training market and its training programmes moving forward?
HRD Corp has developed a system called the Micro-Credential Course Acknowledgement System (MICAS), which will have four levels of verification and monitoring functions.
These will provide for the development of data analytics, allow for analysis of training conduct, training outcome and trainee development, and see the production of a comprehensive report for all employers for every single training session conducted.
This is to ensure that employers can calculate the return on investment (ROI) for each and every training programme attended by their employees.
An increase in training costs?
Is it true that micro-credentials will lead to an increase in training costs, and thus lead to fewer employees being trained? No. The objective of the implementation of micro-credential is to lower the cost of current training conducted by training providers, while providing employers with higher standards of delivery and clearer outcomes at the same time.
Whatever charges levied for services rendered for micro-credentialing will be from within the allowable cost metrics currently in place, and will replace costs previously charged by training providers for certification, which had very little value added to workers and employers.
RM300 is the maximum allowed for micro-credentialing. This may be even less depending on the type of training programmes. What is certain is that it will be less than the RM537 that was previously charged by third-party institutions to train providers for certification.
I would like to end by saying that the human resources minister has requested for a technical working committee to be set up, comprising employer associations, to ensure that a fair assessment of the roll-out of the implementation of HRD Corp’s micro-credential framework is made and a fair costing for the different types of training programs can be announced soon.
I would like to assure all stakeholders that HRD Corp has developed a core team of professionals who have the necessary experience to deliver the core objectives of the micro-credential initiative as promised.
These objectives are to improve the standards of training programs, reduce the cost of training as compared to what was previously being offered to employers and employees, and offer employers the availability of features that can track the skill development and progress of every employee attending a training programme. – July 30, 2022
Ariff Farhan Doss is HRD Corp chief operating officer.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
