MALAYSIA’s higher education (HE) in the fourth industrial revolution is a complex, dialectical and exciting opportunity, which can potentially transform society for the better.
Powered by artificial intelligence, the fourth industrial revolution is expected (in some cases, already has) to transform the workplace from task-based characteristics to human-centred ones.
Due to the convergence of man and machine, it will reduce the subject distance between humanities and social science as well as science and technology.
This will require much more interdisciplinary teaching, research and innovation.
Educators are exploring the impact of HE 4.0 on the missions of a university, which are teaching, research, innovation and service.
All graduates also face a world transformed by technology, in which the Internet, cloud computing and social media create different opportunities and challenges for formal education systems.
As students consider life after graduation, universities are facing questions about their own destiny, especially employment.
This period requires certain skills that are not exactly the same as the skills that were required in the third industrial revolution where information technology was the key driver.
The skills needed now are critical thinking, people management, emotional intelligence, judgment, negotiation, cognitive flexibility, as well as knowledge production and management.
Succinctly, the connection between education and society is often implied to be one-way, where education is expected to fit in with economic and political trends, rather than, opposing them and representing something different.
Such general understanding of the relationship between education and the socio-economic structures and what the education position involves helps us to form a projection of future HE associated with the fourth industrial revolution.
Malaysian HE has gradually progressed from the elite phase to mass HE and then to post-massification stages.
Many advanced and some developing economies enjoy the tertiary participation rates of over 50 per cent.
Another characteristic of this trend is internationalisation of both students and staff.
According to a report from OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) with demographic changes, international student mobility is expected to reach eight million students per year by 2025.
The core mission of HE remains the same, whatever the era. The goal of HE is to ensure quality of learning via teaching, to enable the students to get the latest knowledge through exploratory research, and to sustain the development of societies by means of service.
One of the principal tasks of every university is to educate the youth.
Therefore, it is necessary to implement appropriate teaching strategies and to organise work in a way that fosters learning.
This has implications on adaptable learning programmes, better learning experience and lifelong learning attitude.
Moreover, the journey towards global competition in the higher education requires institutions to put a huge amount of effort into research and development.
Experts believe these forces range from new technology deployment to global cooperation and collaboration.
The author believes that in order to sustain the competitive position among world HE system, we need to radically improve educational services. In particular, we need to drive much greater innovation, and competition into education.
DR NURKHAMIMI ZAINUDDIN
Deputy director, GOAL ITQAN
Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia