Higher Education in Southeast Asia and Beyond #Issue 06

INTRODUCTION
The integration and synergising of
knowledge, industry and humanity are
believed to be the driving aspects for higher
education to strive for excellence, and
adapt to a dynamic ecosystem. Constantly
harnessing knowledge is an important
driver for HEIs to soar to greater heights.
Simultaneously, HEIs need to enhance jointventure
and collaborative partnership with
industry to produce in-demand Research,
Development and Innovation (RDI), and
talent pools. The aspect of humanity that
values such partnership, inclusiveness,
ethical leadership, stewardship, community
building, and volunteerism must not be
ignored. Thus, these three elements must
co-exist and be linked to ensure a balanced
and sustainable higher education ecosystem.
This is to ensure that our HEIs are flexible
and resilient enough to thrive in an
unpredictable, fast-transforming world.
Given the existence of the global challenges
and the fact that the higher education
ecosystem is undergoing fast-changing
development, it is crucial to explore gaps
and future strategies of HEIs in adapting,
and mitigating occurring issues in this
dynamic ecosystem. The 6th Global Higher
Education Forum 2018 (GHEF 6.0), held
from 8 to 10 October 2018 in Putrajaya,
Malaysia, served as a platform for multistakeholders
(such as academics, students,
government agencies, policymakers, NGOs
and industries) to discuss issues confronting
the higher education ecosystem to promote
discourse for solutions. This was an avenue to
consider concepts, experiences, practices and
research findings on diverse issues in higher
education from various countries, contexts,
and perspectives.
Objectives
GHEF 6.0 sought to achieve the
following objectives:
▪▪
To serve as a platform for dialogues
and discussions as well as to share
research findings on current global
trends, issues and development in
the higher education ecosystem
▪▪
To provide opportunities to exchange
institutional, national, regional, and
international perspectives with regard
to various higher education issues
▪▪
To facilitate national, regional and
international collaborations in the
provision of higher education
▪▪
To create guidelines on the way
forward for sustainable developments
of higher education
HESB | SEPTEMBER 2019 | ISSUE #06 | PAGE 5