KUALA LUMPUR: University students are encouraged to be bold in facing the challenges that come with the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0).
Chairman of UiTM Board of Directors Tan Sri Ir Dr Ahmad Zaidee Laidin said that as time passes, university students need to be open minded, able to move forward and thrive in today’s fast-changing world.
“I have been around since the first industrial revolution. Even though I’m an engineer by training, I adapted to the situation and now I stand as an educator,” he said during the Malaysia Higher Education Forum (MyHEF) 2017: Redesigning Education for Industry 4.0.
While stressing that graduates must not fear the evolving technology that would affect the job market, Ahmad Zaidee said that jobs would evolve according to time.
“Data shows that 60 per cent of the current jobs will vanish in the future due to technology advancement and this is nothing new since the first industrial revolution. New jobs will be created.
“Just don’t be afraid to take the challenge,” he said.
Meanwhile, founder of the Centre for Research, Advisory and Technology (CREATE) Ng Yeen Seen, who was one of the five panellists at the forum, said she believed that lifelong learning through online courses would leave an impact on the traditional education as the system revolutionised.
“Now everything can be found online, making what is being learnt irrelevant in certain matters.
“Because of this, students must possess soft skills, especially in communications as it is vital to move forward,” she said.
She also opined that technology could replace jobs, but human workforce would remain relevant.
“Robots are created by humans. They do not possess creativity, problem solving skills and surely could not think out of the box and be innovative.
“This is what we (human) have,” she said.
The forum moderated by Danial Abdul Rahman was also participated by CEO of Saora Industries, Ganesh Muren; Youth Activist, Haryaty Hamdzah; Universiti Malaya Student Representative Council President, Hazwan Syafiq Haznain. — Bernama