The job market is becoming even more competitive and digitally-driven in the post COVID-19 environment. For Murugan Veloo – co-founder of Kings College Malaysia (Kings College) – education must evolve to meet this demand. And this is driving his strategies for the institution in the coming year.
In 2020 and 2021, 1,000 new students enrolled in our academic and training programmes, while we also introduced new offerings to the market. This enabled our business to grow by 50 percent.
This success was because we were one step ahead. For instance, we were already providing online courses in self-development and technology-based skills. And so, we were able to cater to the demand for such courses during the pandemic, as we were already in that space.
We worked with ministries to reskill over 2,000 retrenched workers by conducting short courses in Robotics Process Automation, digital analytics, drone technology, cloud technology and cyber security. They were then able to utilise their newly acquired skills to re-enter the workforce or even start their own businesses.
At the same time, we provided digital marketing and design training to those in traditional pink-collar jobs and e-hailing drivers, which enabled them to earn additional income as freelancers. We are also embarking on a new project this year to help Orang Asli communities acquire digital skills and use e-commerce platforms to sell their products.
Disruptive Education
We live in a world in which knowledge acquired today might not be relevant a year from now. In Malaysia, we are already seeing this mismatch between talent and market demand, and this gap will grow more significantly in the coming years.
At Kings College, we always take a nontraditional approach to education. Our goal is to nurture skills relevant for the future and make education more accessible and affordable. We believe that micro-credentials as well as IR-based/tech-based and futuristic programmes are the way forward.
Micro-credentials, also referred to as nano degrees and micro masters, demonstrate knowledge and competency in specific skillsets. Our programme enables students and working professionals to acquire industry-driven skills within a short amount of time and in a flexible manner, allowing them to continuously improve and meet emerging skills demand.
In under two years, we have introduced 30 new micro-credential programmes. We encourage students to take up micro-credentials on the side, as they pursue their pre-university, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes with us. We have been working with Google for Education and taking steps to work with other agencies and companies to fulfil this vision.
Alternative credentials are becoming major disruptive forces in education and the job market. According to impact intelligence platform Holon IQ, the global market is expected to reach US$20 billion by 2025 – there is great potential for us to grow this market in Malaysia. In the long run, we would like to create curricula that will evolve along with industry needs.
As demand becomes less conventional, education needs to transform and at Kings College, we are determined to be at the forefront of this evolution. Together with my team, I believe we can make this vision a reality.”
