Students need skills for new century
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM cannot afford to be a laggard in adapting to changes in the education system. Educators all over the nation were urged to enable and equip the future generation with skills to survive challenges at the 12th International Conference on Education yesterday.
In his opening speech, Minister of Education Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Lela Dato Seri Setia Awang Hj Abdul Rahman Dato Setia Hj Mohammad Taib said this year's theme Changing Contours of Education: Future Trends is a reflection of a global shift at all education levels, especially in Brunei Darussalam where His Majesty's Government is "working towards a new National Education System that is appropriate for our present and future needs".
He stated the ministry's vision to develop the future generation by providing them with "multiple pathways to higher education and to equip them with skills to function successfully in this new century".
He stressed that the new technology must be accompanied by a drastic change in mentality.
"This requires us to completely rethink everything we've ever understood about learning, education and schooling."
Pehin Dato Hj Abdul Rahman stressed the need to approach the subject in a holistic manner and to critically reflect on educational development in the 21st Century as "all technology can do is support the curriculum".
The minister noted that although it is easier for children today to access information, the sultanate continues to "print more textbooks and make it the main source of information in our schools".
He urged Bruneians to consider innovative methods of teaching and learning because it is necessary for the young generation to "become self-acting, self-confident and creative managers of their own future".
He cautioned against being slow to adapt to information technology in the education system.
"For those without (the new knowledge), the prospect of unemployment, poverty and despair (is high) as the old jobs disappear and old systems crumble".
Meanwhile, an education expert told participants that with the constant changes in global higher education development, the role of the university is becoming increasingly apparent. The need to respond should override the need to conserve the old tradition of teaching and learning.
Professor Asha Kanwar, vice president of the Commonwealth of Learning, talked about the five dimensions of changes affecting the global outlook of higher education in her keynote speech titled "Signs of the Times: Change or Be Changed".
The trends she observed include the phenomenal expansion and diversity of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the developing world; the rise of cross-border HEIs; the significant emergence of private provision; Open Education Resource movement; and the advent of the "new learner".
China is now the largest higher education system towering the US with more than 17 million students last year, she said. India is third, followed by Russia and Brazil.
In order for countries to achieve sustainable economic development, the Age Participation Rates (APR) in higher education should be between the region of 40 and 50 per cent. This is a cause of concern for a majority of developing countries that have a limited higher education access of only 10 per cent.
"These global changes in priority and demography will affect the public policy but also the focus of higher education to shift from the developed to the developing world," said Professor Kanwar, adding that it will accelerate in the next two decades.
Brunei responded to these changes by channelling the potential of information and communication technology to higher education to provide a world-class education at the tertiary level.
This is a realistic initiative, said Professor Kanwar, seeing that the number of Internet users has increased over the past seven years.
The Brunei Times
In his opening speech, Minister of Education Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Lela Dato Seri Setia Awang Hj Abdul Rahman Dato Setia Hj Mohammad Taib said this year's theme Changing Contours of Education: Future Trends is a reflection of a global shift at all education levels, especially in Brunei Darussalam where His Majesty's Government is "working towards a new National Education System that is appropriate for our present and future needs".
He stated the ministry's vision to develop the future generation by providing them with "multiple pathways to higher education and to equip them with skills to function successfully in this new century".
He stressed that the new technology must be accompanied by a drastic change in mentality.
"This requires us to completely rethink everything we've ever understood about learning, education and schooling."
Pehin Dato Hj Abdul Rahman stressed the need to approach the subject in a holistic manner and to critically reflect on educational development in the 21st Century as "all technology can do is support the curriculum".
The minister noted that although it is easier for children today to access information, the sultanate continues to "print more textbooks and make it the main source of information in our schools".
He urged Bruneians to consider innovative methods of teaching and learning because it is necessary for the young generation to "become self-acting, self-confident and creative managers of their own future".
He cautioned against being slow to adapt to information technology in the education system.
"For those without (the new knowledge), the prospect of unemployment, poverty and despair (is high) as the old jobs disappear and old systems crumble".
Meanwhile, an education expert told participants that with the constant changes in global higher education development, the role of the university is becoming increasingly apparent. The need to respond should override the need to conserve the old tradition of teaching and learning.
Professor Asha Kanwar, vice president of the Commonwealth of Learning, talked about the five dimensions of changes affecting the global outlook of higher education in her keynote speech titled "Signs of the Times: Change or Be Changed".
The trends she observed include the phenomenal expansion and diversity of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the developing world; the rise of cross-border HEIs; the significant emergence of private provision; Open Education Resource movement; and the advent of the "new learner".
China is now the largest higher education system towering the US with more than 17 million students last year, she said. India is third, followed by Russia and Brazil.
In order for countries to achieve sustainable economic development, the Age Participation Rates (APR) in higher education should be between the region of 40 and 50 per cent. This is a cause of concern for a majority of developing countries that have a limited higher education access of only 10 per cent.
"These global changes in priority and demography will affect the public policy but also the focus of higher education to shift from the developed to the developing world," said Professor Kanwar, adding that it will accelerate in the next two decades.
Brunei responded to these changes by channelling the potential of information and communication technology to higher education to provide a world-class education at the tertiary level.
This is a realistic initiative, said Professor Kanwar, seeing that the number of Internet users has increased over the past seven years.
The Brunei Times
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