Yamal Matabudul : “Vocational education is equally important in an education and training ecosystem” 

Yamal Matabudul is the founding Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Polytechnics Mauritius, a Government initiative to serve the emerging needs of Mauritius for a qualified and skilled human resource at mid-professional level. Yamal Matabudul cumulates more than a decade of work experience in the higher education and training sector. He started his career as a lead facilitator for a tutoring company in Montreal. He has also been part of senior management at various private educational institutions including Business Mauritius, among others. He shares with News on Sunday his views on the free tertiary education measure and how will this benefit those going for technical and pre-vocational training. 

• What are your views regarding the measure of free tertiary education?
  This is a historic announcement. The Government has embraced the vision to move Mauritius into high-income status through value-added and niche sectors of activity. As a country where our human capital holds the key to our emancipation, this vision can only become reality if we craft a high-skills ecosystem where the general population has access to education at the tertiary level. Bill Clinton said it right, “ability is evenly divided, opportunity is not.” Now, free tertiary education levels the playing field. To give you a concrete example, this is not new or unprecedented. Two years ago, the Government of New Zealand made tertiary education free for all of its residents as a means to increase access and equity and to enhance and upskill the capabilities of its population.  Last year, the state of Victoria in Australia made TAFE education free. 
   
• Polytechnics Mauritius and the MITD are the two public institutions which also benefit from the measure. What are your views about this?
  Very welcome. Extending this measure to MITD and Polytechnics sends a strong signal. Vocational education is equally important in an education and training ecosystem.  Polytechnics education should not be an afterthought for students but a preferred route for certain disciplines. We offer real-world, hands-on training for careers in select fields. Some lines of work are more bent towards skills than knowledge. As said by one of our students in an internship at a 5* hotel in the north of the island, “Almost every class I was taking is what I would be doing in the workplace. My sister attended university, but she was not as prepared for the internship as I was.” Polytechnics imbibe students with skills requiring technical precision after graduation. 
  
  Choice is very important. Provision of free education across vocational and academic programmes ensure a pathway built in for students with less than 4 credits to onboard a technical education with pathways onto academic programmes afterwards if they should so choose or they can opt for the world of work directly. At Polytechnics, we have a number of courses adapted to each target audience – students with less than 4 credits at O-levels, students with 5 credits and students with HSC as well as lifelong learners and industry persons looking for upskilling. We aim to be a lifelong partner where students may come in and out across their careers and we will accompany them accordingly. 
   
• How will this, as you see it, benefit those opting for technical and pre-vocational training?
  It will hopefully shift the mindset away from what traditionally people believe is more prestigious to what is more relevant and fit-for-purpose. A long time back, medicine and law were both vocational programmes where mentors inducted apprentices into the profession. Today both fields are the realm of academia. Once again, depending on what line of work you opt for, a technical route may be more appropriate. What makes sense and what prepares us better for after study should guide our decision of where to study and what mode of education to embrace. If one wishes to have an international career and work in a people-centric business, a job as a Spa therapist or F&B supervisor or Nurse is as likely to get you there. 

Polytechnics education should not be an afterthought for students but a preferred route for certain disciplines. We offer  real-world, hands-on training for careers in select fields. Some lines of work are more bent towards skills than knowledge."

• Do you believe that this measure will motivate more students to pursue their studies in the island than going abroad? Will this thus help to fill in the gaps in our institutions and help increase the number of applications for various or new courses?
  We need to be clear about inputs, outputs and outcomes. Free public tertiary education provides a platform for students who would previously not have been able to afford a tertiary education to do so. We have also witnessed at Polytechnics, a number of working professionals who had to quit their education because of overwhelming responsibilities and inadequate funds who are now keen to upskill with a first diploma or degree and are hoping to climb up the ladder in Industry. This measure also prompts institutions to think anew about their offerings and embrace future oriented programmes that will add value and deliver widespread benefits and positive externalities to the niche and emerging sectors of the economy. A broader range of skillsets will be built over time to the satisfaction and benefit of students and employers alike. At Polytechnics Mauritius, we will be launching the first ever Diploma in Big Data in Mauritius where we will train students to shift towards jobs of the future. Our forthcoming programmes in specialized nursing will also come as a relief to practicing nurses who have worked in specialized wards but without a specialized qualification. 
   
• Do you trust that this measure calls for the creation of new courses in all our public institutions?
  I cannot speak for all institutions. But it has certainly spurred the need to differentiate and to be distinctive. Since all public tertiary institutions will now have free tuition fees, students will be in a better position to identify and select the offerings that align best to their expectations and aspirations for the future. This brings an unprecedented level of student centricity and consequently, a need for institutions to refresh and revamp the way forward. At Polytechnics Mauritius, we had already adopted a different approach around some of the new courses like Diploma in Internet of Things where we combine in-class study, industry internships, study abroad and a capstone project as the ideal concoction to imbibe students with the right skills for the future.  
   
• On the technical and vocational side, which new courses do you believe should be introduced and why? (for example courses on blockchain, among others)
  Of course, IT and emerging technologies call for significant growth in areas such as FinTech, Blockchain, Big Data, Artificial intelligence and Cybersecurity, among others. But our industry stakeholders are also adamant that good software engineers are as important today and will be soaked up by employers as much as before. 
  
  So, in keeping pace with disruptive and future innovation, we should think incremental in what needs persist at the level of industry. 
  
  At Polytechnics, we have regular touch points with industry stakeholders that remind us of mismatch and gaps in select areas of economic activity. This spells interesting avenues for us in terms of new skills but also re-skill and up-skill- whether it is specialty cuisines and professional cooks for hotels, landscape designers, urban planners, specialized nurses, allied health practitioners. 
  
  The list is long….so keeping an eye on the now as well as the future is not only important, but necessary.