In an online town hall session with Malaysian students studying in Ireland, Jaziri said students should equip themselves with knowledge, skills and experience beyond the academic discourse before returning back to their home country.

“You don’t have to rush back to serve your country after completing your studies. Of course, we want you to come back but do (it) at the right time,” said Jaziri, who is chairman of Sarawak Bersatu.

“However, it would be better if you could bring more than just a piece of paper to your country. Equip yourself with as much knowledge and skills. This is how you can contribute back to the country.

“Bring back skills that could benefit our country and create more opportunities for Malaysia,” he said.

Another panel speaker, Azeem Abu Bakar, managing director of FMT, said students should not let the system dictate their path but should focus on maximising their potential.

“You can always negotiate with the relevant stakeholders if you’re not ready yet to come back,” he said.

Azeem added that students should no longer specialise in one set of skills if they want to remain marketable in the post-pandemic job market.

“We can no longer be too specialised. We have to be ‘jack of all trades, master of all’ by acquiring different skills in many sectors. This is (the) time for students to prepare themselves by reskilling and upskilling while the market is gradually recovering.”

The CEO of Darul Naim Institute, Nurul Izatee Md Yusoff had called for the government to review the concept of online learning in Malaysia.

Nurul Izatee said the idea of online learning is to promote independent learning and flexibility; however it is different in Malaysia, and is data-consuming and too rigid. “This is why students become too stressed out to continue with online learning,” she said.