Strategic Management: Strategic Foresight For Higher Education In Human Technology

1.0 Introduction

Education is an important medium of acquiring essential knowledge and skills. It is more than just learning from books. It is an effort of the older generation to transfer their life wisdom to their offspring. Our world is constantly changing and developing, so it is very important to teach and bring up intelligent people who could understand the problems of modern society and solve them in a proper way.

Higher education is an optional. But to enter a respectable career, individual must continue their education in order to achieve his or her financial and personal goals. Teenagers who attend college use their extended schooling to further obtain knowledge. The primary objective of higher education is to enhance one’s abilities for his or her future. Students can learn from school in numerous ways but liberal education is not a way to attract students into further and higher education. However, students can learn a lot more through experiences that have affected their personal lives.

People in the past did not stress value of receiving a higher education because it was not as indispensable as it is today. Now, people perceive others not only by their appearances but by their accomplishments. Employers always hire people with the most education and experience. The majority of students are concerned about getting a higher education throughout the years. Nevertheless, some people question the purposes of getting educated and consider it meaningless. The concept of education has a significant meaning. It enables one to take control of knowledge and apply it. It is education what prepares the mind to comprehend and learn the important ideas. A higher education is very important for an individual’s success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

The 4IR urges us to think creatively about the manufacturing process, value chain, distribution and customer service processes. In the meanwhile, the future of education emphasize the immense need to look beyond these areas and strategically utilize the “Internet of Things” to prepare the coming workforce for the challenges ahead. Nowadays, higher education is highly needed. But a declining trend in the relevancy of conventional higher education institutions makes it at risk in the future. Universities emphasize their role in shaping future technology by being the testbeds for innovation and educating future generations. Traditional education has contributed greatly to the current levels of industrial evolution and technological advancement. However, in order for higher education to deliver future generations with the right set of skills and knowledge, an imperative question has to be asked regarding how higher education institutes would be affected by the 4IR and how the delivery of education will be transformed.

2.0 Strategizing Human-Technology Balance for Betterment of Higher Education

A. Humanising Learning Institutions (HLI)

Reintroducing human dimensions into higher education because of commodification and technological influences.

Values-based and Competency-based

• Create curriculum beyond traditional and conventional exam-based
• Rethink a new model of higher education
• Bring human aspect into the 4IR
• Defining an outcome-based performance contracts
• Enhance delivery of Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan in higher education

It is matter because Malaysia Education Blueprint is geared towards developing holistic and balanced graduates and these could only be met by focusing on values-based and competency- based education.

Future-Ready Higher Education Governance

• Align governance policy with new model of higher education
• Broaden governance policy beyond the traditional and conventional policy
• Create resilient governance framework beyond conventional framework
• Enhancing coordination across the Ministry’s various Technical and Vocational

Education and Training (TVET) providers

• Positioning HLIs according to their recognized areas of institutional excellence
• Restructuring Ministry organisational structure
• Enhance the role of National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN) in the foresight strategic activities to continuously advise the higher education sector
• Rethink a new scenario model e.g. open senate

It is matter because many successful higher education systems have been built upon mutual respect and recognition of the respective contribution. Where such environment of mutual trust and respect are not present. The higher education systems become top heavy and unwieldy, intellectual development is retarded and stifled and worst case scenario.

B. Leveraging Uberisation for Better Education

Fitting human dimension in the technology-driven higher education system.

Future-Proof Curricula

• Align teaching, learning and assessment approaches with technology advancements
• Redesign academic that align with future milieu
• Create a framework for continuous curriculum review and improvement

It is matter because to ensure uber-learners are equipped with top notch knowledge, both in technology and economically to move forward in demanding and challenging nation in the future. Teaching and learning process should be aligned and developed together with technology advancement with current and top notch knowledge and information.

Future-Ready Credentialing Model

• Align national standards and qualification framework with micro-credential and transnational education model
• Create a new credential framework beyond the conventional and examination-based approach

It is matter because to guarantee the next generation is ready to face the challenging future. Uber-learners who would like to access education anytime, anywhere and anyhow would like to have current and advance credential framework that goes beyond the conventional and examination-based typed of education. With these quick references, they can easily access the information that they need and don’t want to be burden with the normal assessments and examinations in order to finish their education status.

Digital Fluency and Articulacy

• Increase Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) support, infrastructure and access to higher education institutions
• Reinforce ICT and digital literacy in the academic professional training and development
• Launching Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in subjects of distinctiveness
• Incentivising HLIs to establish supporting systems for empowering ICT and digital literacy training

It is matter because to ensure Malaysia’s future generation is prepared to face the 4IR and also future of IRs.

Future Economic Readiness

• Create a caring and sustainable higher education economic model that is affordable to learners
• Provide autonomy to higher education institutions to redesign its student fee model
• Focusing on creating scale and growth
• Playing a catalytic role in securing investments
• Incentivizing HLIs to establish supporting systems for the commercialization of ideas
• Strengthening the promoting and marketing

It is matter because uber-learners in the challenging and demanding economic nations should be in the comfort zone of income level to ensure they are able to support themselves with many demanding elements of high standard of living. This high standard of living requires high income. Thus, uber-learners need to be prepared with knowledge and skills that will bring in enough or high income for them to support all the demands.

C. Revitalizing Education Ecosystems

Bringing philosophy into higher education systems to match supply demand-driven market.

Rethinking the Role of Higher Education

• Align the role of higher education with the changing world
• Positioning HLIs according to their recognized areas of institutional excellence

It is matter because the current education system has not changed significantly over the past decades. New technologies are changing the style of learning. Knowledge can be acquired easily on the Internet. However, the wisdom of the academic are still sought after. Thus, universities should capitalize on the wisdom of the academics and utilize all the ever changing landscape of learning in order to generate the next generation of holistic graduates.

A New Deal on the Learners’ Diversity

• Create/bring new model for life-long and life-wide learners
• Create curriculum beyond traditional and conventional exam-based

It is matter because with the flexibility of education and the improvement in network infrastructure, people are able to learn new things just at their home and also not have to leave their jobs. People who have never got a formal higher education are now able to take classes which are run by the higher education sector and use the knowledge to leap forward in their life. These empowerment not only gives the ability to learn new knowledge and it was found that people who are able to learn things they want are more happier in general.

Professionalize Teaching Workforce

• Promote continuous up-skilling and reskilling of teaching talents
• Establishing the required cyber infrastructure
• Create a professional competency framework for teaching profession in higher education
• Incentivizing HLIs to establish supporting systems for empowering life-long and life- wide learning

It is matter because new skills are required to be competitive. Job losses are expected due to automation in the future. Hence the higher education sector needs to tailor their curricular to allow the graduates to be able to adapt to the new sectors of industry that will open up due to automation. This is the reason why higher education philosophy is important in order to create graduates that are holistic and have a high level of thinking skills.

D. Strategizing Education for a Changing World

Aligning higher education system with the changing environment.

Ultra-flexible Higher Education Model

• Create a resilient higher education model that align with the future change
• Globalized online learning
• Create a smart systems to recognize various transnational education models and agile implementation of new regulation

It is matter because global trends indicate an inevitable rapid technological and civilizational change occurring at present. Initially only text and a low definition information was transferred through bulky desktops tethered to a network by cables. However, current day mobile and wireless technology allows data and information to be transferred in high definition at high speeds.

Responsive Policy and Decision Makers

• Enhance the informed and evidence-based policy development and decision making process
• Moving decision rights from the Ministry to the leadership of public universities
• Promote continuous up-skilling of leadership

It is matter because at this juncture that thought leaders navigate the rapid rate of change for society. Society as a whole will generally continue their routines and receive their education through formal channels. Therefore, they may not be as responsive to the changes that are occurring and will take place. Various disruptive technologies in different sectors has occurred and education will be no different.

Future Job Readiness

• Create opportunities to learners for early exposure to various workplace and ongoing career guidance
• Provide financial support
• Focus on skills that are not replaceable by automation

It is matter because present training must meet future jobs that require new skillsets in the advent of coming disruptive technologist. With the massive amount of data generated every second, it is only a matter of time before human brain is outperformed by artificial intelligence or machines. The roles of humans with regards to jobs either as service providers or labour will continue to evolve with the rise of the machines.

3.0 Conclusion

The 4IR has given a new impetus to educational transformation. In recent years, education experts recognise the profound impact that a myriad of technological innovations in ICT is having on education. They agree that Education 4.0 will be shaped by innovations and will indeed have to train students to produce innovations. Digital disruptions are happening every single day. We need to preserve our core values, ethical principles and Malaysian identity as we embrace the 4IR revolution. Innovation amongst Malaysian universities is the key of competitive factor of Digital Transformation in 4IR. Thus, higher education leaders should exploit the potential opportunities brought by the 4IR with much responsibility and wisdom by providing digital leadership for their institutions. Technologies brought forth in 4IR if it is wrongly used could easily lead us astray from our culture, core values and identity that Malaysian proud of. So, in order to achieve that it is important for Malaysia to provide Code of Ethics and Responsible Conduct to guide institutions and individuals in their exploration of these 4IR technologies along with the wisdom of using it.

4.0 References

1. A S Md Abdul Haseeb. (2018). Higher Education in the Era of IR 4.0. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/education/2018/01/323591/higher-education-era-ir-40
2. Asmaa Abu Mezied. (2016). What Role Will Education Play In The Fourth Industrial Revolution? Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/what-role-will-education-play-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/
3. Saiful, M., Yusoff, B., & Azzam, G. (2018). Malaysia’s Future Higher Education Scenarios : Fourth Industrial Revolution and Beyond. (June 2019). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.20205.44009
4. https://www.nst.com.my/education/2018/01/323591/higher-education-era-ir-40
5. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/what-role-will-education-play-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/
6. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/what-role-will-education-play-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution/