Real world: Students immersing themselves in work-based learning at Taylor’s Vortex XR Lab. – Filepic
According to the latest Education Ministry data, only half (50.3%) of the school-leavers in 2021 were interested in pursuing higher education – a massive decline from 2019 and 2020, which saw 65.2% and 64.8% of students continuing their studies, respectively (“SPM holders are continuing tertiary journey”, StarEdu, April 2).
While the debate as to why increasing numbers of “out of school youth” opt to work instead of pursuing higher education rages on, it is pertinent for higher education institutions (HEIs) to ask themselves: How should we respond and remain relevant amid such a disruptive age where technologies and social changes transform the way youth think, work and live? Is there something that needs to be done differently?
We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world yet our current education system is deeply rooted in a traditional campus-based, closed-loop model that is bound by time and space, where students must go to college or university for specific periods, graduate and then enter the working world.
As working environments and learner behaviours undergo seismic shifts, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, perhaps we can reimagine an open-loop education model with students transitioning seamlessly between work and study to produce curious, intellectually vibrant, and agile lifelong learners.
Such a system would allow students to enter the “open loops” multiple times throughout their professional lives as they seek to gain skills and knowledge.
The traditional three or four-year undergraduate experience might also be transformed, as students come and go to gain experience beyond the classroom.
While on campus, students may undertake hybrid degrees which offer multidisciplinary learning experiences, and graduate with multiple credentials that attest to specific skills and abilities needed to succeed at the workplace.
As a HEI, our direction is clear; our education will offer hybrid degrees, instead of traditional disciplines, where students will be exposed to immersive technologies and work-based learning.
This ensures that their experiences in education are fulfilling and have long-lasting value, serving them well in any endeavour they decide to undertake in life.
Taylor’s University deputy vice-chancellor and chief academic officer Dr Pradeep Nair is a multi-award-winning professor of leadership and innovation, having spent three decades in higher education. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.
