YTN’s Framework for Student Development

Abstract

Employers today are more demanding. In the era of globalization and liberalization, it is not good enough for graduates to be only skilful in their areas of expertise. Apart from technical skills which students acquired through formal lectures in classes, they are expected to also have soft skills for them to become well-rounded competent persons in harmony with holistic societal values. Yayasan Tenaga Nasional (YTN), a foundation under Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) provides sponsorship for students pursuing their studies at higher education institutions (IHLs). Apart from providing sponsorships, YTN also organized activities for their scholars to enhance their study and soft skills. Recently, YTN has developed a framework for YTN’s students’ development activities. The framework forms a guide for a structured students’ development activities involving YTN’s sponsored students. With the framework, it is hoped that the students can be nurtured to prepare them for the highly competitive workforce in the current volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. This paper presents the student development framework which include the role of YTN in providing assistance to students, the expected outcomes for different level of graduates and the study conducted towards the development of the framework. The core and functional competencies expected from the students are also presented.