The Department of Polytechnic and Community College Education’s (JPPKK) efforts to empower TVET to transform polytechnics and community colleges must be realised, Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail said.

He said TVET was actually a combination of knowledge and skills capable of producing excellent human capital of quality that will eventually create life-changing opportunities.

“Human capital development is important in facing future challenges and producing superior human character.

“Therefore, the following are matters that should be given attention – a conducive infrastructure, progress in the agriculture sector, research and innovation efforts in the field of agriculture and urging students to use opportunities to highlight their own potential,” the Raja Muda said when officiating the Titian Kasih Programme at the Sandakan Polytechnic, near here yesterday.

Tuanku Syed Faizuddin also officiated the Sandakan Centre for Polytechnic Studies and

Aquaculture in conjunction with the programme.

The Titian Kasih programme, organised in conjunction with the Perlis-Sabah Government Exercise (Eks Perbah), is a human capital development programme involving school and university students.

He also officiated a similar programme at the nearby Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Faculty of Sustainable Agriculture and witnessed the signing of a letter of intent between UMS and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (Unimap) to develop cooperation in agriculture and sustainable agrotechnology.

The agreement was signed by UMS vice-chancellor Datuk Dr Kasim Mansor and Unimap vicechancellor Datuk Dr Zaliman Sauli.

In his speech, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin said the slogan ‘UMS Leading Towards Innovative Societies’ has been made an important agenda for public institutions of higher learning.

In realising the slogan, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin said UMS has established a living lab that functioned as a learning and research centre for the benefit of students, researchers and also the community.

“One example is the Rural Medicine Research Lab at the Rural Medical Education Centre in Kudat which was implemented in collaboration with Nagasaki University of Japan in critical sciences such as disaster management and rural health sciences.

“With disasters in the country such as earthquakes and landslides in Sabah, I support UMS’s efforts to develop a disaster simulation complex (known as the Disaster Medicine Training Centre), which is capable of acting as a living laboratory and will help us to deal with natural disasters,” he said.

Tuanku Syed Faizuddin said the lack of food supply had highlighted the importance of implementing national food security.

UMS has collaborated with the industry to develop teaching, learning and research projects in the conservation of highland agriculture in Mesilou, Kundasang.