Analytic hierarchy process: A case study of students’ tendency in enrolling TVET programme

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is a dedicated route to produce future ready workforce with high vocational skills and knowledge. The education system combines general knowledge, technologies, sciences, and practical skills which are useful in the workplace. In Malaysia, students can obtain their vocational certification from several institutions such as Polytechnics, MARA Vocational Institutes, Industrial Training Institutes etc. However, some factors significantly influenced the students’ enrollment in TVET program and resulted in massive supply-demand gaps in the industry. Therefore, this study aims to discover the influential factors that affect the students’ enrolment in TVET whilst rank the factors according to the level of importance using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) algorithm. From the literature, eight factors are recognized that affect the students’ decision in enrolling vocational education. A total of 18 students from National Youth Vocational Institute (IKBN) took part in answering the pair-wise questionnaire which is analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The finding reveals that parental influence contributed the most in this issue, followed by other factors such as TVET instructors, employers, students’ interest, cost, facility in technical institution, government's policy, and social perception. The outcomes could be the guidance to implement effective strategies to attract more students to enrol in TVET.