Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei (standing at lectern) delivering his presentation during the first session.
A group photo after the conclusion of the first session (from left to right): Ir Liew Chia Pao, session moderator and Principal Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, TAR UC, Ms Tina Wu, Dato’ Merina Abu Tahir, Prof Kerstin Mey, Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei, Prof John Latham, Prof Ciarán Ó Catháin, Prof Dr Hồng Trần Thị and Ms Ng Chiah Yee, Director of CPE.
Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei (third from left), in a group photograph after the conclusion of the second session with Mr Bolene Pech (leftmost), Prof Dr Durrishah Binti Idrus (second from left), Prof Dr Lim Tong Ming (centre), session moderator and Director of the Centre for Business Incubation and Entrepreneurial Ventures (‘CBIEV’), TAR UC, Dr Mark Hammond (third from right), Prof Dr Kimon Daeshik Kang (second from right) and Ms Ng Chiah Yee (rightmost).
TAR UC’s grand 50th Anniversary celebration kicked off with the International Education Forum themed ‘Staying Relevant in the Next 50 Years’. Organised by the Centre for Continuing and Professional Education (‘CPE’), the forum was held in the morning of 16 March 2019 which attracted more than 100 attendees. The forum was divided into 2 sub-themes which were ‘Changing Roles of Universities: Shaping of Technology’ and ‘Sustainability in Higher Education’.
In his welcome address, Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei, President of TAR UC, shared with the audience the relevance of the conference’s theme in today’s education landscape. “The two sub-themes are very timely and are also topics of high interest due to the many changes that are happening around us. Such phenomenon is not something our predecessors had gone through. Due to the disruptive technologies we are experiencing in our lives today under the 4th Industrial Revolution, the roles of universities are also changing. There is a famous Chinese saying which states “When there are challenges, there are also opportunities”. This saying is very apt for us as educators to look at these changes as opportunities,” he said.
Each sub-theme of the forum commenced after a number of traditional dance performances by TAR UC students. For the first one, Prof Ir Dr Lee was one of the speakers where he spoke on ‘The Roles of Universities in Face of the 4th Industrial Revolution’. Prof Lee touched on 3 main points in his presentation which were University – Roles and Purposes, Global Environment of the 21st century as well as Education in the 21st century where he highlighted that the role of universities in the 21st century will focus more on strategic collaborations with the industries through exchange of knowledge and expertise. In addition, the other speakers included Prof John Latham, Vice Chancellor and CEO of Coventry University, UK, who deliberated on ‘Artificial Intelligence: Shaping the Future of Universities’ where Prof Latham explained shorter generational gap Coventry University students are experiencing. This phenomenon intensifies the importance for students and also the management to re-educate themselves to keep up not only with the trends but to also understand the different characteristics between different generations in order to work well with each other. Prof Latham also shared that one of the key agendas for Coventry University is to train their students and staff to ask the right questions in order to upskill themselves. The other speakers who contributed in the first session included Dato’ Merina Abu Tahir, Chair, ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee, Prof Ciarán Ó Catháin, President of Athlone Institute of Technology, Ireland, Prof Kerstin Mey, Vice President of University of Limerick, Ireland, Prof Dr Hồng Trần Thị, Vice President of Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Vietnam and Ms Tina Wu, General Manager of ICDL Asia, Singapore.
Dr Mark Hammond, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Campbell University, USA was the first speaker in the second session. His topic touched on ‘Building Academic Programs to Help the Rural and Underserved Populations’. “Campbell University is located in a rural area where the community around us are in significant need for a quality tertiary education to elevate their social standings. This is where Campbell University plays an important role where we have striven to develop programmes that guarantee our sustenance and position in higher education but also to help serve the immediate people of North Carolina,” Dr Hammond said. Prof Dr Durrishah Binti Idrus, Member of the Board of Governors of TAR UC who is also the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Student Affairs), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia also deliberated on ‘Staying Competitive in Higher Education in Malaysia’. Prof Dr Durrishah shared her experience in transforming a college she was put in charge of to becoming a university college and how the said institution grew in terms of number of programmes it rolled out in order to be sustainable and competitive. The other speakers in the second session included Prof Dr Kimon Daeshik Kang, Executive Vice President of Dankook University, South Korea and Mr Bolene Pech, CEO of Westline Education Group Co. Ltd., Cambodia.
