Honda Malaysia today signed a Certificate of Collaboration (CoC) with the Department of Polytechnic and Community College Education (DPCCE), Ministry of Education (MOE), paving the way for Honda’s training modules to be incorporated into selected automotive syllabus.
The CoC recognises Honda Malaysia’s strategic collaboration with polytechnics and colleges for students to be equipped with industry-ready technical and soft skills. Honda Malaysia will be collaborating with 17 community colleges from nine states in Malaysia with more polytechnics and colleges expected to be added into the list in the near future. This is an initiative by Honda Malaysia in support of the government’s focus on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) towards developing more skilled and certified technicians in Malaysia through high quality trainings.
Honda Malaysia Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Toichi Ishiyama said, “Honda Malaysia has recorded outstanding sales increase by 112% in the past 5 years and this concurrently increases our service intake by 51% over the same period. This leads us to expand our dealership network nationwide, which now stands at 97 outlets to provide easier access for all our customers. Hence, this initiative is very timely as we are able to have more skilled technicians to cater to our increasing customers.”
Honda Malaysia will be incorporating the Maintenance Technician and Repair Technician modules that are founded on Honda’s internal global training for its associates worldwide, into selected automotive courses. The students will receive comprehensive training including 6-month industrial attachment at Honda Malaysia dealerships.
The specially-designed training is expected to promote understanding and equip the students with Honda’s after-sales knowledge. Collectively, the programme will provide graduates with industry experience and a solid foundation as they enter employment.
Also present at the signing ceremony, the Director General of DPCCE, Professor Dato’ Ts. Dr. Mohd Ismail bin Abd Aziz who said in his speech, “We believe this strategic partnership is a positive collaboration between DPCCE and Honda Malaysia. We will exercise best effort to develop the forms of collaboration in establishing facilities, learning spaces, joint conferences, seminars, workshops and forums to create career opportunities to honour the collaboration areas.”
Students of these selected automotive courses are expected to graduate with greater career prospects, including becoming official Honda technicians or service personnel upon going through intensive trainings and assessment. Honda Malaysia is targeting to receive 120 graduates per year from participating polytechnics and colleges throughout Malaysia through this collaboration.
The collaboration also opens the door for students from different courses who are interested to be part of the Honda technician team. As long as they are genuinely passionate about automobiles and have substantial knowledge in the subject, students can apply to undergo intensive training in Maintenance Technician and Repair Technician modules, and assessments before being hired by Honda Malaysia dealers.
