Have courses in line with digital economy, institutions of higher learning told
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Institutions of higher learning are advised to introduce new disciplines in line with the government’s emphasis on the digital economy.
Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the government on its part had allocated RM100 million per year to Yayasan Sarawak, to provide loans and scholarships to students studying cyber security and molecular engineering.
He told a press conference yesterday that such disciplines were not available before, but were introduced due to the changing times.
“Higher learning institutions need to introduce new courses in line with our (government) effort to move towards the digital economy where we will also be preparing for the Industrial Revolution 4.0…and the government is giving Yayasan Sarawak RM100 million every year to give loans and scholarships to prepare our human resources towards this,” he said.
Abang Johari pointed out that he was able to increase the revenue of Yayasan Sarawak from 80 sen to RM50 per tonne in timber premium in order to build the state’s human capital.
Earlier, he officiated at the closing of the Skilled Human Capital Development Conference ( SHCDC) 2017 at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak ( Unimas) campus here.
He added that the allocation to Yayasan Sarawak was given to undergraduate, degree and PhD students in scientific research to study natural resources in the state, including healthcare.
Unimas vice- chancellor Datuk Dr Mohammad Kadim Suaidi said Unimas was prepared to assist the state government embrace the digital economy through various disciplines and faculties.
He disclosed that Unimas had its own digital innovation centre at the campus.
“Right now we have research groups working together in this area (digital innovation) and at the same time we have academic programmes which are supporting the state digital transformation,” he pointed out.
He also said the government had given Unimas the mandate to run a centre of excellence, which is a network of several universities working towards that direction.
Earlier in his speech, Abang Johari said the people must have the spirit and aspiration to assist the government in preparing for the digital economy and uplifting the state’s industrial level towards the fourth industrial revolution, otherwise known as Industry 4.0.
The event also saw the launching of a book authored by Jocelyne Bourgon, president of the Canadian Centre for Management Development, and the exchange of MoU documents between Unimas and the Ministry of Human Resources, and between Unimas and Peoplelogy.
Present were Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office ( Integrity and Ombudsman) Datuk Talib Zulpilip, Assistant Minister of Corporate Affairs Abdullah Saidol and Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Snowdan Lawan.