CYBERJAYA: The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has officially taken over accreditation duties from the Public Services Department (JPA) for all government job applications.
The announcement was made by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh this afternoon.
"The Accreditation Committee Meeting (MJA) under MQA will decide on the professional qualifications recognised by the government in hiring its public servants. We used to have another list of academic qualifications recognised by JPA. But not anymore," Idris told reporters after launching the RM59.9 million Mercu MQA headquarters here.
Auditing and accreditation will be done by MQA, a government agency under the Higher Education Ministry armed with over two decades of experience in quality assurance.
But the authority to hire civil servants will still rest in the hands of the JPA.
Idris reiterated that the streamlining of accreditation duties is part of his ministry's continuous effort to beef up the quality of Malaysia’s higher education system. It will also facilitate the hiring process in the government sector.
"The e-Sisraf accreditation list that used to be under JPA is now made available on the MQA portal. Graduates who wish to apply for a government position can just run through the list to check if their university degree is recognised by the JPA or not," he explained.
Candidates who wish to apply for a government job do not need to have their degrees certified by a high-ranking government official anymore.
"This way, we can cut down on cases of candidates using bogus university degrees to apply for a government job," Idris added.