Humanising Higher Education – Our Shared Agenda for Global Prosperity and Sustainability

Tengku Mohd Azzman ShariffadeenChairman, Board of Directors, Universiti Malaya

4th Higher Education Institutional Leadership and Governance Conference 2018: Humanising Higher Education

Kuala Lumpur, 18-19 December 20181

Outline

• A tale of missed opportunities and unrealized dreams• Forces of turbulent change: Paradigm, disruption, destruction,

transformation and revolution• To have or not to have an Industrial Revolution• The rise of the knowledge economy and society• Artificial intelligence – the great disruptor• Framing the knowledge economy and society• Way forward for higher education

2

A tale of missed opportunities and unrealized dreams• 1981: Conference on ‘The Concept of Development in Islam’; held on

request of Prime Minister; gave birth to International Islamic University Malaysia• Early 80s: incorporation of Kolej Islam Nilam Puri into Universiti

Malaya to become the present Academy of Islamic Studies• 1980s: UM’s introduction of Civilisational Studies• 1992: Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia• 2008: International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies

3

Time for change 1/2

• C P Snow’s The Two Cultures‘Two polar groups: at one pole we have the literary intellectuals, at the other scientists, and as the most representative, the physical scientists. Between the two a gulf of mutual incomprehension.’• Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society‘They school them to confuse process and substance ... the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value.’

4

Time for change 2/2

• Harry Lewis’ Excellence Without a Soul‘Universities have lost the sense that their educational mission is to transform teenagers … into adults with the learning and wisdom to take responsibility for their own lives and for civil society.’

• Claude Alvares’ and Shad Faruqi’s (eds) Decolonising the University‘Freedom is a state of the mind … throughout Asia and Africa, the enslavement of the mind has continued long after the colonizer has gone back home.’

• Peter Drucker’s The Age of Discontinuity‘For its knowledge base a modern society needs both scientific and technical people and people in the humanist, political, economic, and behavioural disciplines … It needs people who can put knowledge to work rather than people who are the prisoners of discipline and method.’

5

Kuhn’s Paradigm (or paradigm shift) - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962)

• Fundamental change in the basic concepts and experimental practices of a scientific discipline• Contrast between paradigm shifts, which characterize a scientific revolution, to

the activity of normal science, which he describes as scientific work done within a prevailing framework• Kuhn restricted the use of the term to the natural sciences, but has also been

used in numerous non-scientific contexts to describe a profound change in a fundamental model or perception of event• After a given discipline has changed from one paradigm to another a scientific

revolution or a paradigm shift; when the term paradigm shift is used colloquially: simply the radical change of worldview• paradigm shift as a kind of intellectual virus – spreading from hard science to

social science and on to the arts and even everyday political rhetoric

Wikipedia 01 Oct 20186

Disruptive Innovation as conceived by Christensen

Christensen et al, What is Disruptive Innovation? (HBR 2015)• “Disruption” … process whereby a smaller company … successfully challenges established incumbent

businesses … incumbents focus on improving their products and services for their most demanding (and usually most profitable) customers … exceed the needs of some segments an d ignore the needs of others … Entrants that prove disruptive begin by … targeting … overlooked segments, gaining a foothold by delivering more-suitable functionality—frequently at a lower price. Incumbents … tend not to respond vigorously. Entrants then move upmarket … performance that incumbents’ mainstream customers require … preserving the advantages that drove their early success … mainstream customers start adopting the entrants’ offerings in volume, disruption has occurred.

Wikipedia (01 Oct 2018)• … disruptive innovation is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually

disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market-leading firms, products, and alliances …

• Not all innovations are disruptive • Disruptive innovations tend to be produced by outsiders and entrepreneurs … business environment of

market leaders does not allow them to pursue disruptive innovations … not profitable enough at first … development can take scarce resources away from sustaining innovations … disruptive process can take longer to develop … risk associated to it is higher than the other more incremental or evolutionary forms of innovations … but once it is deployed in the market, it achieves a much faster penetration and higher degree of impact on the established markets.

7

Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction• Disruptive process of transformation that accompanies technological innovation• Capitalism is a form or method of economic change that can never can be

stationary; fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion comes from the new consumers’ goods; new forms of industrial organization that capitalist enterprise creates• Creative Destruction: Process of industrial mutation incessantly revolutionizes the

economic structure from within, destroying the old one, creating a new one• Innovative entry by entrepreneurs was the disruptive force that sustained

economic growth, even as it destroyed the value of established companies and laborers• Schumpeter was pessimistic about the sustainability of this process, seeing it as

leading eventually to the undermining of capitalism's own institutional frameworks

Wikipedia 04 October 2018 8

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab, WEF, 2016 1/2

• WHAT … First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production … Second used electric power to create mass production … Third used electronics and information technology to automate production … Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third … digital revolution … occurring since the middle of the last century … characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

• WHY … three reasons why today’s transformations represent not merely a prolongation of the Third Industrial Revolution but rather the arrival of a Fourth and distinct one: velocity, scope, and systems impact… compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace … disrupting almost every industry in every country … breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.

• OPPORTUNITY … the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world.

• CHALLENGES … the revolution could yield greater inequality … disrupt labor markets … automation substitutes for labor across the entire economy … exacerbate the gap between returns to capital and returns to labor … displacement of workers by technology … result in a net increase in safe and rewarding jobs.

• KEY TREND … development of technology-enabled platforms that combine both demand and supply to disrupt existing industry structures … “sharing” or “on demand” economy … platforms … creating entirely new ways of consuming goods and services … lower the barriers for businesses and individuals to create wealth … new platform businesses … multiplying into many new services …

9

Wikipedia Article on Industrial Revolution – Based on Arnold Toynbee’s lecturesThe causes of the Industrial Revolution were complicated … some historians believing the Revolution was an outgrowth of social and institutional changes brought by the end of feudalism in Britain after the English Civil War in the 17th century. The Enclosure movement and the British Agricultural Revolution made food production more efficient and less labour-intensive, forcing the farmers who could no longer be self-sufficient in agriculture into cottage industry … in the longer term into the cities and the newly developed factories. The colonial expansion of the 17th century with the accompanying development of international trade, creation of financial markets and accumulation of capital are also cited as factors, as is the scientific revolution of the 17th century. A change in marrying patterns to getting married later made people able to accumulate more human capital during their youth, thereby encouraging economic development.

Great Britain provided the legal and cultural foundations that enabled entrepreneurs to pioneer the industrial revolution. Key factors fostering this environment were:1. The period of peace and stability which followed the unification of

England and Scotland; 2. no trade barriers between England and Scotland; 3. the rule of law (enforcing property rights and respecting the sanctity of

contracts); 4. a straightforward legal system that allowed the formation of joint-stock

companies (corporations); 5. absence of tolls, which had largely disappeared from Britain by the 15th

century, but were an extreme burden on goods elsewhere in the world, 6. a free market (capitalism). 10

The Age of Discontinuity (Drucker, 1969)• Knowledge has become the central capital; central ‘factor of production’• Electronic media create a global shopping centre• Entrepreneur looks for opportunities for new industry based on new knowledge• Knowledge industries: systematic production and distribution of knowledge• Knowledge work has no hierarchy• Shifting from Cartesian view, where accent is on parts and elements to configuration view with

emphasis on wholes and patterns• Organizing knowledge … around areas of application; a resource, means to some result• Knowledge … needs both scientific and technical people and people in the humanist, political,

economic, and behavioural disciplines … put knowledge to work• Application … foundation of modern economy and society, principle of social action• Change has major impact on knowledge itself, central philosophical and political issue in

knowledge society• Central moral problem of knowledge society will be responsibility of the learned, men of

knowledge• Knowledge has power, controls access to opportunity and advancement; learned are true

‘capitalists’ in knowledge society; power and wealth impose responsibility

11

Knowledge economy, knowledge-based economy, knowledge society, network society

• Knowledge economy – product is knowledge• Knowledge-based economy – knowledge is enabling tool to enhance all

products• Knowledge society: A society that creates, shares and uses knowledge

for the prosperity and well-being of its people• Network society: Self-organising open global network, flat,

nonhierarchical, unregulated, no one in control• Global networks for active participation: Crowdsourcing, mass

collaboration, peer production, co-creation, open innovation12

Innovation and entrepreneurship

• Innovation : A new way of doing something• Invention is not innovation• Innovation: Ideas applied successfully in practice• Key role of entrepreneurs in value and wealth creation• Innovation eco-systems• Importance of public policy and strategy

13

14

Artificial Intelligence Marching Onward to Match Human Capabilities

15

Jobs Lost and Gained

Key takeaway messages• Rise of knowledge as primary factor of production reorganizes human institutions

and structures

• Paradigm, disruption, (creative) destruction and (industrial) revolution have specific technical meanings but now used in popular sense to describe turbulent change

• Radical transformation of economic, social and political structures: increasing global instability, turmoil and chaos

• Emerging technologies and applications exacerbate inequality

• New Industrial Revolution (4th?) not feasible if social, economic, political and legal/regulatory challenges are not addressed; but Industry 4.0 will be reality

• Relationship between work and worker redefined: massive job losses anticipated; job gain only possible with massive retraining programmes

• Entrepreneurs rise in importance as agents of economic and social change

• Governments unable to cope with rapid changes: need to adopt agile, adaptive, collaborative, anticipatory governance

• Western obsession with adversarial and contentious path to transformation unlikely to lead to cooperation or collective responsibility

16

Maqasid Al Shari’ah

‘the very objective of the Shari’ah is to promote the well-being of the people, which lies in safeguarding their faith (din), their self (nafs), their intellect (aql), their posterity (nasl) and their wealth (mal)’

Al Ghazali, Al Mustasfa

17

Foundational Islamic Precepts 1/2

)٢٩ نإ ةك:ىـلملل كبر لاق ذإو ) لعجتأ اولاق ةفیلخ ضرألٱ ىف لعاج ىدلٱ كفسیو اہیف دسفی نم اہیف بسن نحنو ءام دقنو كدمحب ح نإ لاق كل س ى

٣٠( نوملعت ال ام ملعأ ىلع مہضرع مث اھلك ءامسألٱ مداء ملعو )٣١( نیقدـص متنك نإ ءالؤـھ ءامسأب ىنوeـبنأ لاقف ةك:ىـلملٱ اولاق )

انتملع ام الإ انل ملع ال كنـحبس میكحلٱ میلعلٱ تنأ كنإ (29) And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: Wilt thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not. (30) And He taught Adam all the names, then showed them to the angels, saying: Inform Me of the names of these, if ye are truthful. (31) They said: Be glorified! We have no knowledge saving that which Thou hast taught us. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Knower, the Wise.

Quran: 2.29 -2.31 18

Foundational Islamic Precepts 2/2

یغی ال 'ٱ نإ یغی ىتح موقب ام ر مہسفنأب ام اور

Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts;

Quran: 13.11

19

Subsystem #1: Din and Nafs - Build structured process to develop Knowledge Society by initiating internal change within individuals

20

Personal learning, unlearning, relearning

Internal change: Knowledge-driven

individualsKnowledge Society

Din and Nafs: Measure results achieved at societal level, compare with desired results at personal learning level, then make corrections to improve process of establishing Knowledge Society

21

Personal learning, unlearning, relearning

Internal change: Knowledge-driven

individualsKnowledge Society

Subsystem #2: Din and Aql - Build structured process to apply aql in developing socially responsible intellectual capital

22

Knowledge Society Knowledge for human development Intellectual capital

Din and Aql: Measure intellectual capital produced, compare with desired results at Knowledge Society level, then make corrections to improve process of knowledge development

23

Knowledge Society Knowledge for human development Intellectual capital

Subsystem #3: Din and Mal - Build structured process to deploy intellectual capital to develop equitable Knowledge Economy and generate wealth for all

24

Intellectual capital Equitable Knowledge Economy Wealth for all

Din and Mal: Measure wealth produced, compare with desired results at intellectual capital level, then make corrections to improve process of wealth generation and distribution

25

Intellectual capital Equitable Knowledge Economy Wealth for all

Subsystem #4: Din and Nasl - Build structured process to use wealth for social solidarity and ecological balance towards achieving community well-being and a sustainable world

26

Wealth for all Social solidarity and ecological balance

Community well-being and sustainable

world

Din and Nasl: Measure community well-being and environmental sustainability achieved, compare with wealth at society level, then make corrections to improve process of developing social solidarity and ecological balance

27

Wealth for all Social solidarity and ecological balance

Community well-being and sustainable

world

DinPersonal change Knowledge-driven individuals

Knowledge SocietyNafs

Intellectual CapitalAql

Wealth for AllMal

Community Well-beingand Environmental Sustainability

Nasl

Knowledge for human development

Equitable Knowledge Economy

Social solidarity and Ecological balance

Systems Perspective to Nurture Knowledge EconomyAnd Society

28

Way Forward 1/2

• Reimagine and reinvent our future: embrace knowledge-based development, position knowledge as primary factor of production and facilitate innovation• Infuse human values and virtues as the foundational principles for

reform and renewal “Where is the Life we have lost in living?Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” T S Eliot ‘The Rock’

29

Way Forward 2/2

• Strategic planning based on systems thinking, futures studies and foresighting: explore and experiment widely, discover best paths forward• Collaborate domestically and globally; build networks and platforms

for sharing; scaling up rapidly• Doing it with purpose: the four pillars of learningLearning to learnLearning to doLearning to live togetherLearning to beDelors UNESCO Commission Report (1996)

30

thank youfor your attention

31