22
October
2015
|
15:00
Asia/Singapore

Educating for the future

Prof Tan (third from left) moderating a session that featured (from left): George Mason University's Prof Tyler Cowen, MOE Permanent Secretary (Education) Ms Chan Lai Fung and OECD Deputy Secretary-General Mr Stefan Kapferer

Educators from around the world converged in Singapore to explore trends and challenges in global higher education at the inaugural OECD-Singapore Conference on Higher Education Futures, held from 14 to 15 October at Resorts World Sentosa. The conference, which was attended by 500 local and overseas delegates from more than 40 countries, included leaders and experts in academia and public policy. Among the international panellists were three NUS speakers. 

The two-day event, organised by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in partnership with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), comprised four plenary sessions and accompanying parallel seminar and workshop sessions to allow participants to network and exchange ideas.

The event's opening was graced by Singapore's Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Mr Ong Ye Kung. In his opening address, Mr Ong elaborated on how higher education objectives should be dynamic, continually adapting to the tensions found in an uncertain and changing world.

"An experienced and retired educator told me it is like pushing a boulder up a hill. If we ever rest, the boulder will roll back down and run us over. But we must not rest. It is a worthwhile journey that will transform our higher education landscape, our economy, our society and our lives, he said.

Yale-NUS College Executive Vice President (Academic Affairs) Professor Tan Tai Yong moderated the question-and-answer portion of a plenary session titled "Mapping and meeting future demand for higher education. He also shared his insights on "Multiple education pathways in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world in another session.

"How do you then get students to think and develop judgements that will position themselves well to face different scenarios? That's not so much a vertical approach, where it's taught, but, rather, it's cultivated. And in the process of cultivation, I always feel that the faculty and students are learning together, so it's actually facilitation instead of teaching, he said, during the question-and-answer portion of his session.

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Prof Krishnan encouraged educators to teach lifelong-learning skills to their students

Professor Ranga Krishnan who is a faculty member of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) Neuroscience & Behavioral Disorders Program and former Duke-NUS Dean spoke on "Graduate capabilities in the workforce of tomorrow what employers need, and what higher education institutions can provide. He explained the ways in which the brain is wired to learn and how educators could capitalise on them to produce students ready for an unknown future.

"There are certain skills in today's world which have become particularly important because routine thinking and routine skills have become less and less useful to survive in this world. There is an average and that average is changing, he said.

CEO of NUS Enterprise, Dr Lily Chan, also spoke on "Beyond competition: Collaboration and sustainability in higher education and research, in Asia and beyond at the conference.