By Office of Public Affairs
24 February 2022 — Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) President Dr. Eden Woon was invited to share his insights and experiences for the training of leaders from Malaysian Universities in ‘International Dean’s Course — Malaysian Chapter (MyIDC) Module 11: Internationalization’. Through his speech, the President highlighted ‘internationalization’ as a strategy to sail through the “perfect storm”.
The MyIDC hybrid event, held in a hybrid mode from February 19th to February 26th, was a seven-day training to equip leaders in academic with innovative ideas for strategic management and decision-making processes, 
as well as transferable skills to respond to changes in higher education. The event is part of a program, spanning over nine months with modules covering leadership, faculty management, and skills to manage conflict and make sound decisions. The course is organized by Akademi Kepimpinan Pendidikan Tinggi from the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT), in collaboration with the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM); Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM); Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; Universiti Malaya; Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM); and Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia and Multimedia University (USIM).
AIT President Dr. Eden Woon referred to the issues the world currently facing as the “storms” which he categorized into four main types, namely anti-globalization, COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tension, and climate change. He referred to these global challenges as the storms that have grave impacts on humans’ lives, and pose challenges to universities around the world. On anti-globalization, President Woon pointed to the fact that in the past two decades, as the world had started to embrace globalization, inequity and inequality emerged, and as a result, isolation and nationalism started to arise in many countries.
With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect human wellbeing, the world still lacks a unified response to combat the disease in a long term. While geopolitical tension among many countries has affected the economy, politics, and technology transfer. Adding salt to the injury, climate change is intensifying it impacts on humans and the planet. In this regard, AIT President remarked, “this is the fight that will be with us for the years to come”.
To sail through the “perfect storm” where all the four issues cornering us at the same time, President Woon proposed 10 ways universities can take advantage of the new internationalization. The characteristics include the matter of talents, mobility, collaborative education, pipeline partnership, synergistic research, complementary collaboration, social impact research, outreach to industry, regional consortiums and Asia, and technology. “This is the time we need more internationalization, and we must do it in a new way,” President Woon concluded.
Following his speech, participants were actively engaging in the interactive Q&A session. Prof. Samsilah Roslan, Dean Faculty of Educational Studies at the UPM, asked President Woon to comment on micro-credential courses and cross-modules between different universities. President Woon responded that these courses would enhance the education industry as he underlined, “they are versatile and more flexible in learning, and this is the future of education”.
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More information on MyIDC: http://akept.mohe.gov.my/index.php/myidc2022