Punjabi students missing from engineering, says UKM’s Dr Mandeep Singh

| Malaysia | 12 Oct 2016 | Asia Samachar |

Punjabi students are missing when it comes to engineering in the Malaysian universities.

Well, that is the casual observation of Associate Prof Dr Mandeep Singh when looking at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), the public university where he teaches.

“There are no Punjabi students in UKM for electrical and electronics undergraduate level for the past three-years…There are a few, a handful, in other universities. We had a bigger number when I was studying at USM,” he tells Asia Samachar.

“Punjabis seem to lack interest in Mathematics and Science. I’m not sure if they are weak in those subjects, or are not interested.”

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Dr Mandeep, who is attached to UKM’s Department of Electrical, Electronic & Systems Engineering, is on a mission to shore up interest in engineering and other science-related subjects.

Recently, Dr Mandeep was appointed as the Chairman of Engineering Education Technical Division of the Institution of Engineers of Malaysia (IEM) for session 2016/2017.

“One of our main task is to get more students to take up Science and Mathematics. We need more engineers,” he said.

Dr Mandeep had earlier served as deputy chairman of the same division for one term.

Founded in 1959, IEM is a civil society organisation established to promote the science and profession of engineering in any of its disciplines and to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas related to engineering.

With a membership of over 40,000 today, it constitutes one of the largest professional organisations in the country.

“There is a future for engineering. There is a huge job demand in the Malaysian market. We need more engineers,” he told Asia Samachar, an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia, when asked about the future of the profession.

Malaysia will face a serious shortage of human capital in science fields as the target for students enrolling in the stream is not being met annually at the school and tertiary levels, according to one local news report.

Quoting statistics from the Science and Technology Human Capital Report and Science Outlook 2015 by Akademi Sains Malaysia, it was reported that the country needs at least 270,000 science students sitting the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination annually, but there were only about 90,000 now. A total of 500,000 students enter Form Four every year, the report added.

“Science and Maths are interesting subjects. They can be used for many other fields aside from engineering,” said Dr Mandeep.

IEM is organising activities on STEM to help raise awareness of Science and Mathematics for engineering. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. We have a Facebook page, do give it a LIKE. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our website: www.asiasamachar.com]

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