In this era, competition is everywhere, especially for graduated students who are looking for a job. Graduated students need to equip themselves with the knowledge and soft skills required by the industry. In the industry’s view, they recruit and select workers based on selective criteria such as academic qualifications, intelligent, communication skills and ability to work as a team. Therefore, the graduated students are supposedly preparing themselves accordingly. This study aims to identify the factors that contribute to students’ academic performance in higher learning institutions in Malaysia. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used in this study with a combination of the principal component extraction method and the varimax rotation analysis to extract the possible factors. The findings revealed that there are three factors that contribute to students’ academic performance in higher learning institutions namely learning ability, learning effort and time management. In producing high-quality students, higher learning institutions must ensure all students' necessity to possess these skills as demanded by the industry. As a result, it will increase the number of employed graduates and reduce the unemployment rate among graduates in Malaysia as inspired by the Twelfth Malaysia Plan.
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