A PAYCHEQUE, A PURPOSE, A HEAD START
Some lessons begin in lecture halls, laboratories and libraries. Others begin when a student is given a responsibility, expected to show up, and trusted to get the job done.
At Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), MySISWA Job on Campus, or MySISWA@JoC, brings those two kinds of learning together.
The programme gives students access to structured, flexible part-time work within the university, allowing them to earn while gaining first-hand experience of professional expectations. Coordinated at USM by the Student Development Centre under the Student Development Affairs and Alumni Division (BHEPA), it is designed to support students financially without allowing work to displace their academic priorities. USM describes the programme as a platform for student welfare, professional exposure, soft-skill development and graduate employability.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Development Affairs and Alumni) Professor Dr. Wan Ahmad Jaafar Wan Yahaya said the initiative enables students to earn an income while developing the confidence, discipline and sense of responsibility that come from being trusted with real work.
“We want students to recognise the value of their own effort. When they earn through honest work, carry responsibility and contribute to the university, they build confidence, discipline and a stronger sense of independence. Their studies remain the priority, but work can become an important part of their education.”
The first lesson is showing up
For some students, the immediate reason for taking a campus job is straightforward. The additional income may help pay for meals, transport, learning materials or other everyday needs. For students from families where finances are already stretched, it can also reduce, even if modestly, the amount they need to ask from their parents.
For some students, even a modest income can ease the pressure of everyday expenses and reduce the amount they need to ask from home.
Yet the value of the work should not be measured only by the amount earned.
A student who accepts a job also accepts a commitment. Someone expects them to arrive on time. A task needs to be completed correctly. A deadline matters. An instruction may need clarification. An error has to be acknowledged and fixed.
These are ordinary experiences in working life, but they are not small lessons.
Students should take pride in doing useful work while studying, whether they are managing records, assisting at an event, helping someone at a service counter, analysing data, supporting a person with disabilities or developing a digital platform.
Their contribution is not separate from the university. Done well, it supports the university's work, its services and the people who depend on them.
The experience also changes the language a student can use about themselves. Instead of saying only, “I studied this,” they can begin to say: “I was responsible for this. I solved this problem. I worked with this team. Someone relied on me to deliver.”
That is a different kind of confidence.
Five doors into working life
MySISWA@JoC provides five broad routes into work: administration and operations, services, technical assignments, project-based or professional work, and entrepreneurship. USM's programme framework allows activities ranging from administration and programme support to ICT, multimedia, data-related work and defined professional projects, while requiring placements to be safe and appropriate.
Students have welcomed the opportunities offered by different centres and departments across USM. For Nur Hidayah Mohamed Rashidee, a first-year Management student, the appeal was practical: a short placement that fitted her semester break, allowing her to earn and gain experience before returning to her studies. The team also included final-year Physics student Muhammad Alif Akhtar Marpizan, who undertook data-processing tasks requiring accuracy and discipline. Their experience gives the programme a personal dimension: the chance to put a university break to good use and return with more than extra income.
The range matters because students do not all need the same first experience.
Administrative work can sharpen accuracy, organisation and follow-through. Service roles develop communication, patience and awareness of other people's needs. Technical work demands troubleshooting and persistence. Project assignments expose students to deliverables and accountability. Entrepreneurship introduces another discipline altogether: understanding what people need and following through well enough for them to return.
At USM’s Institutional Planning and Strategic Centre, for example, MySISWA@JoC has provided students with opportunities to support selected administrative, planning and digital tasks in a supervised professional setting. Such assignments allow students to become familiar with workplace expectations while applying what they have learnt in a practical environment.
The value lies in the experience of being given a task, understanding what is required and carrying it through responsibly. Even relatively routine assignments can help students learn to work with others, manage time, respond to feedback and appreciate the importance of completing their part well.
When they later apply for employment, these experiences give them something tangible to reflect on and discuss, alongside their academic qualifications.
When the work serves someone else
Some of the strongest lessons may come from roles that directly support other people.
A student assisting a person with disabilities encounters accessibility not as an abstract principle but as an everyday reality. A programme facilitator learns that good organisation includes noticing when someone is lost, uncertain or needs help. A service assignment teaches that a patient explanation may matter as much as completing the transaction itself.
It is here that employment can also develop a more human understanding of professionalism.
Professor Wan Ahmad Jaafar said the programme should help students understand that competence and consideration belong together.
“Doing a job well is not only about completing a task. It is also about how we treat the people affected by our work. We want our students to graduate as capable professionals, but also as people who are considerate, dependable and ready to contribute.”
There is an important balance here.
Payment recognises that the student's time and effort have value. Service reminds them that the value of work is also found in what it enables for somebody else.
A global practice, with a USM purpose
Working while studying is hardly unusual at leading universities elsewhere.
The University of Edinburgh employs more than 140 student ambassadors who support campus tours, open days, recruitment activities, digital engagement, events and other university work. The roles are deliberately flexible around study commitments, while giving students experience in communication, organisation, teamwork and professional responsibility.
At Harvard University, a dedicated Student Employment Office connects students with paid work on and off campus. Opportunities include library and office work, research assistance, event support, tutoring and marketing, while Harvard reports that part-time employment forms part of university life for a substantial proportion of its students.
The point is not that USM should imitate another university.
It is that purposeful student employment can be part of the educational experience itself.
USM has also placed an explicit safety boundary around the programme. Its guidelines restrict placements to safe and suitable work and exclude jobs categorised as dangerous, difficult or dirty, commonly known as “3D” work.
That safeguard should not be confused with a hierarchy of dignity.
A service role, an administrative task or practical support work can still demand punctuality, stamina, patience and humility. Honest work does not become more respectable simply because it happens behind a computer screen.
Independence, with guardrails
For parents, campus-based work can offer another advantage: independence develops within an environment that still has structure around it.
Students have supervisors. Assignments are defined. Hours are regulated. The university remains close enough to provide oversight when necessary.
At USM, participating students may work up to 20 hours a week during a normal semester and up to 40 hours a week during semester breaks. That allows students to earn more during periods when academic demands are lower while protecting study time during teaching weeks.
The flexibility built into the programme is important. Students need to balance work with lectures, assignments, revision and rest, while taking on responsibilities that remain manageable within their academic schedule.
Learning to plan their time, communicate their availability and manage competing commitments is itself part of the experience. It allows students to develop greater independence while keeping their studies firmly as the priority.
That balance is central to MySISWA@JoC: providing useful exposure to working life without losing sight of the reason students are at university in the first place.
Parents, too, can view the experience as more than extra pocket money. Asking what their children are responsible for, what they have learnt and how they are managing their commitments may be more valuable than focusing only on what they earned.
What remains after the pay
MySISWA@JoC is part of a wider national initiative. The Ministry of Higher Education launched the 2026 programme nationally with an allocation of RM20 million for implementation across 20 public universities, with an expected 10,000 student beneficiaries.
At USM, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dato' Seri Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed officiated the university-level launch on 12 June 2026. At the same event, he stressed the importance of giving students relevant exposure and strengthening connections between university learning and the demands of working life.
That is where the longer value of MySISWA@JoC lies.
Not every assignment will be exciting. Some work will be repetitive. Some days will be tiring. Students will occasionally misunderstand instructions, make mistakes or discover that something they thought would be easy is not.
That, too, is education.
Learning how to recover from an error, accept constructive criticism, ask for help, solve a practical problem and return the next day ready to do better develops a form of readiness that cannot be acquired from a transcript alone.
Students who take up these opportunities bring something valuable to the university: their time, abilities, energy and willingness to learn.
What they can take away is larger than a paycheque.
It is the experience of knowing: I showed up. I learnt. I earned. I contributed. I can be trusted.
That is a worthwhile head start before the first job after graduation.