KUCHING: The Sarawak government aspires to seek a transformation in education to ensure a future-ready generation.
In stating this, Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said in line with the Mid Term Review of the 12th Malaysia Plan released by the Ministry of Economy on Sept 11, it has called for the establishment of a new science technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum to be introduced to students to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) aligning with the national aspiration and niche areas.
“IR5.0 is already advancing, so this is a big education challenge.
“Thus, the state government welcomes pioneering initiatives to democratise education, ensuring accessibility and quality,” he said.
Abang Johari said in his speech read by Deputy Premier Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian at the closing of the International Conference on Computational Methods in Engineering & Health Sciences (ICCMEH) 2023 and the opening ceremony of the first International Conference of Business and Technological Advances in Industry Revolution 4.0 (ICoBTA-IR4.0), which is co-funded by the Sarawak government and ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union here on Tuesday (Oct 3).
He added Sarawak envisages a state where the confluence of education and technology acts as a catalyst for socio-economic transformation, ensuring a brighter future for our upcoming generations.
“Our state’s commitment to these objectives is unwavering, and today’s conferences will serve as a legacy of our collective resolve,” he said.
He lauded Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) for being the partner of two consortiums of the ERASMUS+ Programme for the projects namely, Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics (APPLY) and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (InD4.0).
“Sarawak’s big leap into the digital and green economy with the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 heralding for Kuching with Smart City Status by 2025 will benefit from the two ERASMUS+ projects.
“This will provide practical solutions to help close the gap between industry needs or expectations and educational system outputs,” he said.
The conference, he added, can bring inspiration in seeking green solutions with a responsive education system focused on the preparation of more productive, effective, and highly skilled human resources that contribute to the productivity and development of the economy in a sustainable way.
Meanwhile, UiTM Sarawak Branch Rector Professor Datuk Dr Jamil Hamali stated that the university is a partner of seven consortiums with ERASMUS+ Key Action 2 Capacity Building in the field of higher education, with various projects related to the digital economy since 2015.
“The transnational proposals were carefully made in line with the needs of all the Asian Partners’ countries from the public authorities and industry perspective.
“Educational challenges lie in what makes them interested in finding employees who have the potential to manage broad solutions and complex ecosystems in the pursuit of the digital and green economy,” he added.
He added UiTM Sarawak Branch has completed two projects in Blended Learning led by Aix Marseille University, France and Food Processing and Innovation led by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).
“Today, we are ending another two projects, APPLY, led by Chieng Mai University and Industrial Revolution 4.0, led by UiTM.
“Three more projects are still ongoing namely, Family Business Management (FAB) by the National University of Management, Cambodia; Portable Video Conferencing Toolkits led by Danmarks Tekniseke Universitet, Denmark, and this year, we are starting with SMART City ASEAN Learning Network led by Universiti Malaya,” he said.
Dr Jamil said that they have benefited tremendously in offering new Masters’ Programmes and Professional Courses developed with the transnational effort with continuous collaboration in students and academic staff mobility programmes and research activities.
“I also want to acknowledge the support of the Sarawak government and the ERASMUS+ Programme of the European Union, which is co-funding the projects and conferences,” he said.
Meanwhile, ICCMEH is a collaborative effort of the three higher institutions from India, Japan and Malaysia, and two partner institutions from the ERASMUS+ project APPLY in Malaysia.
The ICoBTA-IR4.0 2023 is an inaugural conference related to ERASMUS+ Project Industrial 4.0 in which UiTM is the project coordinator.
