Creating chances to learn

THE HIGHER Education Ministry has launched the Framing Malaysian Higher Education 4.0: Future-proof Talents book to meet the unknown demands of the fourth industrial revolution.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said the book will prepare graduates to overcome disruptive innovation through lifelong learning, which creates the opportunities to learn, unlearn and relearn.

“The book is a actually guideline (for higher learning institutions),” he told reporters after delivering the keynote address at the 22nd Malaysian Education Summit last Tuesday.

Idris said Malaysian graduates have to possess strong positive val- ues and be work-ready to stay ahead on the global marketplace and meet the demands of evolving jobs.

“We do not know what the industry will need even in the next four or five years as changes are happening at an exponential rate,” he said.

Idris said this is a reason the ministry has created a policy where 30% of a course curriculum is “fluid and organic.”

He added that by having a more fluid curriculum, courses can easily include current affairs into their syllabus without having to receive approval from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.

Under normal circumstances, a new course curriculum can take a few years to be approved.

By then, Idris said, the course material would be irrelevant to current industry needs.

“We want the current changes to be incorporated into the curriculum.”

So, he added, higher education institutions only need to submit 70% of their curriculum for approval under this new policy, that was announced during his mandate earlier this year.

“It is also to ensure that we meet the current needs of the industry,” he said.

Idris stressed that the book is only a framework and does not dictate how higher education institutions should conduct their courses.

During the conference, Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (Asli) chairman Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah said the book is important for higher education institutions to remain ahead of the game “in light of the unknown changes brought by the fourth industrial revolution”.

Also present were Higher Education director-general Datin Paduka Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir, secretary-general Tan Sri Noorul Ainur Muhd Nur and Asli CEO Tan Sri Michael Yeoh.

Idris also witnessed a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris and the University of Cambridge through its departments, the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate and Cambridge Assessment English.

This is to signify the intention to collaborate on various English language projects including the benchmarking and validation of the Malaysia English Assessment. —