The Role of Malaysian Higher Education in IR 4.0

Defining the 4th Industrial Revolution (IR4.0) as the “digital revolution” which combines human and technological capabilities in industry, this paper poses two questions. First, what is the country’s level of attainment of IR4.0 Second, in preparing the population to take advantage of IR4.0, what is the role of higher education and what challenges does this sector face in pursuit of this goal? In Malaysia, the government has rosy projections of IR4.0 adoption, but on-the-ground surveys do not concur. The answer to the second question lies in the preparedness of this sector in meeting the challenges of migration to IR4.0. And in terms of IR4.0 training, competency deficiencies existed among many higher education instructors. With industry still lagging behind IR4.0 adoption, teaching IR4.0 skills is still necessary.