Future-oriented PdP should be core of national higher education - PM Ismail Sabri

Speaking at the National Academic Awards ceremony here tonight, he said drastic changes were continuing to take place in the PdP process at all levels of formal education presently, adding that the concept of 'Future Learning Initiatives' was no longer something unfamiliar in the country's higher education institutions.

"More and more Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian Family) academicians, regardless of age and expertise, are exploring and applying advanced PdP technology, to ensure our students are not left behind by drastic modernisation in higher education that is sweeping the world," he said.

"With the challenges brought by the process of the industrial revolution, problems related to the global pandemic and various other barriers, local higher education institutions today can determine the fall or rise of the country's future scholar apprentices," he added.

Ismail Sabri said the government would also ensure that concerted efforts were implemented to encourage the transition to a more flexible higher education system and one that meets the needs of the industry.

These integrated efforts include diversifying education and training pathways, offering "trans-disciplinary" programmes and restructuring existing programmes to adopt more innovative approaches, he said.

"It will enable Institutes of Higher Learning (IPT) to offer a more flexible and dynamic curriculum that can be updated and adapted according to industry demands," he said.

Ismail Sabri said Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) would be given significant emphasis and made as the main choice, and no longer the second choice for students who were not successful in academics.

"The attractiveness and quality of TVET delivery and training will be enhanced through improvement made on accreditation, recognition and certification.

"IPTs will also continue to be encouraged to enhance entrepreneurship education to inculcate entrepreneurial values among students," he said.

The prime minister said the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) would continue to strive to develop academic talents and implement holistic scholarship development initiatives.

"These talents must include a variety of fields of knowledge or 'multidisciplinary' in preparation to face an increasingly challenging future," Ismail Sabri said.

He said academics also needed to equip themselves in line with the development of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 which introduced new methods in technology such as artificial intelligence (AI), digitalisation, high speed mobile internet, big data analytics (BDA) and internet of things (IoT) which would provide an impact on education and training.

"The role of academics is very important to prepare Keluarga Malaysia, especially the younger generation to achieve the target of a high-income nation in 2025 as outlined in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP)," he said.

"The government always supports efforts to polish the talents of local academics through various activities including teaching and learning, supervision, research, scholarly and mass media writing," he said.