The achievement of University Technology MARA Cawangan Sarawak client’s charter from the industry perspective: a case study in Kuching, Sarawak

Many parties have debated the issue of unemployment and quality of graduates because they are worried about the 'skills gap' or the 'mismatch' between the types and quality of graduates produced by the universities and their employability skills. UiTMCS as a learning institution has established work norms and quality standards for its outputs or services to its stakeholders. These norms and standards have been transformed into a written commitment known as the Client's Charter. One of its commitments is to supply manpower that fulfills the needs of industries in the country. The purpose of this study is to determine how far UiTMCS has fulfilled its commitment expounded in the client’s charter from the industry perspective. This study examines the performance of UiTMCS graduates in two dimensions, that is, knowledge and expertise, and attitude and conduct. It will also determine the level of acceptance of the employers towards them. Snowballing and judgmental techniques were employed to identify the subjects, that is, UiTMCS recent graduates who have working experiences of two years and below in the government, statutory bodies and the private sector in Kuching, Sarawak. The data were collected through a set of self-administered questionnaire and were answered by their employers. The findings indicate that the overall performance of UiTMCS graduates was favorable in both the dimensions of knowledge and expertise, and attitude and conduct. The correlation analysis shows a positive relationship between the dimensions of knowledge and expertise and attitude and conduct. However, the performance of UiTMCS graduates in the skills relating to the affective domain, that is, attitude and conduct was generally better than those skills dealing with technical or academic concerns. Overall, 74.4% of the employers were satisfied with the UiTMCS graduates. It is hoped that this feedback from the industries can be used as performance measure in producing graduates with values that are needed by industries. The feedback can also be used to review the university curricula so that the graduates produced will fulfill the future needs and demands of the market.