From Shuhaida Mohd Said
PHUKET, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian campus is an excellent site to develop a holistic human capital, said Higher Education Deputy Minister Datuk Idris Haron.
He said Malaysian campuses comprised multi-ethnic communities, with some having international students from throughout the world.
"The Malaysian international university campus community can encourage the development of inter-cultural understanding and diversity," he said at the closing ceremony of the Regional Convention on Student Development here last night.
Meanwhile, Professor Dr Wan Usman from the University of Indonesia urged students to be aware of the change in the educational paradigm, which is a competence-based approach.
He said while knowledge and hard skills were necessary, they were insufficient.
"Thus, the competence-based approach curriculum which consists of learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together, should be developed," he said when presenting his paper on Regional Convention on Student Development.
Dr Wan said the competence-based approach should be developed because globalisation was caused by the flow of information, communication, money and people as a result of modern technology.
To unite perception and mindset, he said, students or people in an organisation needed to undergo an attitude reforming (soft skill).
"The students cannot just rely on products and technology, since both can be easily copied.
"However, one thing which cannot be executed by others is behaviour which very much depends on the students, as a main valuable asset of the nation." added Dr Wan.
The convention, organised by University Utara Malaysia, Higher Education Ministry, National Civics Bureau Malaysia and Thailand's Prince of Songkla University, ended today.
-- BERNAMA
