INGENIEUR
offer up to a maximum of 30% equity to anybody
or persons and will pave the way for Engineering
Consultancy Practice to be listed on the Kuala
Lumpur Stock Exchange.
Adapting Engineering Education to
Industry 4.0 needs
While benefiting from trade liberalisation and
international recognition, the Malaysian engineer
in the 21 st century must adapt to technological
advancements arising from Industry 4.0. Artificial
intelligence, robotics and blockchains are
expected to penetrate many traditional industries.
A broad range of initiatives outlined in the
Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB) 2015-
2025 by the Ministry of Education are set to
transform higher education to adapt to Industry
4.0 needs. According to MEB, experiential and
technology-enabled learning models will offer more
personalised and engaging learning experiences.
Besides academic excellence, education will be
more holistic incorporating character building and
ethics to better prepare graduates to grapple with
the complexities and challenges of the 21 st century.
There will be wider choices of learning sources such
as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It will be
easy to re-enter the world of learning at any time
through formal, non-formal, and informal pathways
in on-going professional development.
In an interview with The Ingenieur, the then
Director-General of Higher Education, Department
of Higher Education, Ir. Dr Siti Hamisah noted
that the key is to develop holistic, entrepreneurial
and balanced graduates. Among the changes in
engineering education that she revealed are:
• More technical and vocational education
training (TVET) under a consortium called
Malaysian Technical University (MTU)
• Introduction of 2u2i programmes (two
years studying in university and two years
interning in industry)
• Real world learning from corporate leaders
as Adjunct Professors
• Practical experience via collaboration with
industry for research
In a nutshell, current engineering education
and university models will be outdated. According
to Prof. Sabina Jeschke, from the RWTH Aachen
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University, in her presentation on “Engineering
Education for Industry 4.0”, at the Conceive
Design Implement Operate (CDIO) European
Regional Meeting 2016, education will become
individualized, meaning students will want a
‘fits-me’ content. If this is not offered, they are
likely to lose interest. Engineering curriculums
will be flexible in order to allow shortening or
extension according to individual student needs.
The recognition of MOOC credits from various
education providers will be enhanced. New quality
measurements will be needed to support the
awarding of education certificates.
Future Engineers
With the onset of Industry 4.0, future engineers
will face a bewildering array of new technologies,
appearing at a rapid rate. The engineering
community will also face a world which is more
connected than today, requiring both social and
political acumen to navigate changing world
conditions.
Engineers can no longer bank on their
understanding of technical concepts and problem
solving capabilities only. Communication skills and
interpersonal skills will be as important as their
technical knowledge. Additionally they need to
develop their “out of the box” and lateral thinking
capability.
The capacity to innovate and commercialise
new goods and services remains vital to the future
competitiveness of all professions. Therefore
it is imperative for engineers in the 21 st century
to be technology savvy and action oriented, with
an understanding of how to market their ideas,
attract capital, create wealth and operate their
businesses within ethical boundaries.
Future engineers will face challenges of ever-
changing business models, shorter product life
cycles, intense global competition and multi-
cultural work environment. They will be able
to face these challenges successfully if they
acquire knowledge in technical disciplines as
well as in other fields such as social sciences and
commerce. This accumulated knowledge will train
them to be well rounded and well balanced with
the ability to relate to a multi-cultural work force in
the engineering and business worlds. - Inforeach