Tahap Daya Saing Pelajar Institusi Pengajian Tinggi di Semenanjung Malaysia (The Competetiveness Level of Higher Education Institution Students in Peninsular Malaysia)

Abstract

In this era of globalization, the economy in Malaysia needs to be more competitive in order to stay advanced and stable, comparable with the economy in other developing countries. The need for competitiveness in an individual is emphasized by the government, especially to the young generation who will inherit the economy of the country. Hence, this study was implemented to measure the competitiveness level of higher education institutions students in Penisular Malaysia. A total of 1910 undergraduate students from 15 Public Institutions of Higher Education (IPTA) and 16 Private Institutions of Higher Education (IPTS) were selected as respondents. This study is a quantitative study using questionnaires as the instrument. The data were analyzed using the software Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 to find the mean score, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. The results of the study indicated that the competitiveness level of IPT students, as a whole is high intermediate level with the mean score of 3.54. This finding also explains that among the nine constructs of competitiveness, the goal construct recorded the highest mean score with the mean value of 3.95 and for the lowest construct is aggressive construct with the mean value of 3.27. Meanwhile, the mean value recorded for the other seven constructs is from3.29 to 3.79. This shows that students of higher education institutions are still not competitive enough as stated in the goal of the National Higher Education Strategic Plan and they are not ready to face the challenges of globalization competitively.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JPEN-2015-4002-06