On Aug 12, Alibaba Cloud and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) shared a ground-breaking announcement – they are set to transform cloud computing education for UTAR students and staff by offering Alibaba Cloud’s Elastic Compute Service and Data Transfer courses.

This announcement is a big step for the future of education.

Thanks to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0), education can also be improved with ever-increasing technological advancements.

What is Education 4.0?

In an era that focuses on smart technology, artificial intelligence and robotics, educational institutions must produce a highly skilled and capable workforce who can take advantage of the tools available in this technologically transformed world.

Education 4.0 needs to cater to the needs of IR4.0 by introducing students to the potential of digital technology, open-sourced content and personalised data.

Without a proper blueprint, how can young people find jobs if their education is three steps behind current technological trends?

So, how can institutions of higher education in Malaysia adapt to this new learning environment?

One method is by encouraging remote learning. Remote learning means easy access to education – an important benchmark of IR4.0 – where every student is given the opportunity to learn and improve themselves anytime and anywhere. But this is easier said than done.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, schools and universities across the world had to adopt remote learning – and the results were uneven.

While many international and private schools in Malaysia successfully brought classes online, in most cases, the lack of internet connection, computer devices and the general unpreparedness on the part of teachers and students made the transition to remote learning less than successful for many.

Education institutions must adapt by introducing accelerated remote learning, where students will learn theoretical knowledge remotely using digital means while practical skills are still taught face-to-face.

This is the best of both worlds – the transforming world and the traditional ways of learning.

Project-based learning can highlight the importance of studying a wide set of skills that can then be applied to real-world work scenarios, as opposed to sticking to a set of skills directly linked to a specific job role.

Gone are the days when students merely learnt theoretical knowledge which was tested through examinations.

In order to shape tomorrow’s workforce, students must be exposed to these so they can apply the wide range of skills taught in university – whether theoretical, soft or technological.

Of course, as part of Education 4.0, the educational tools used by students will be technology or devices.

While every subject has its own set of knowledge and information that students must grasp, the road to attaining this knowledge can vary.

This means that students should be able to choose the tools and techniques through which they want to acquire this knowledge, which can be done by introducing relevant software to the classroom so students can be exposed to current industry trends once they join the workforce.

For instance, architecture students today will need to familiarise themselves with 3D technology. So, it would only be expected that lessons are conducted with the aid of Blender – a free and open-source tool for 3D modelling.

Last but not least, it is vital that Malaysia acknowledges the English language as the language of IR4.0.

Everything people know about IR4.0 is in English, so Malaysian students must possess a high proficiency in the language to tap more extensive knowledge.

And in order to make this possible, English should be a compulsory pass subject in the SPM for enrolment into higher education institutions, both public and private.

Adapting to new realities

The impact of technology on the education industry will not only transform teaching, but also the way students perceive education.

Education 4.0 or the “future of education” as many call it, will change the teaching-learning methodologies to make students future-ready.

It is time to accept this change to move towards a progressive, intellectual, knowledge-driven and future-ready world.

Afterschool.my provides information on higher education including courses, institutions, scholarships, careers as well as other higher education related topics in Malaysia.