At the rate technology is changing the world these days, Filipino educators must go beyond knowledge transmission and lean more towards immersing students in real world job experiences to better prepare them with the most essential and relevant skills for the future.
This was the consensus among a panel of thought leaders in a recent forum organized by startup company Komunidad Global at the Technological Institute of the Philippines (T.I.P.) in Quezon City with aspiring entrepreneurs and academic community members in attendance.
Seasoned educator Paolo Josef Blando of the National Teachers College (NTC) believes it is high time for professors facilitating classroom discussions in higher education institutions (HEIs) to step out of being “a sage on the stage” and serve instead as a “guide at the side” for learners.
“Because our emphasis is on learning experience and no longer as (being) just transmitters of the content. It’s a difficult task because not a lot of teachers are comfortable moving away from their comfort zone,” said Blando, the program and partnership development officer of NTC.
This entails building a much stronger working relationship with the business sector, which will always be in need of highly skilled, employable graduates, according to Dr. Danilo Lachica, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI).
“It’s gonna be hard to imagine how a professor can teach a particular technology subject without firsthand experience. So, you gotta give them that experience by giving them the opportunity to immerse and, conversely, students in technology courses (as well),” he said.
Lachica has been actively working on this thrust in his capacity as Chief of Party for the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Development Alliance program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Unilab Foundation.
At SEIPI, which T.I.P. is a member of along with 44 other universities, companies engage with different HEIs to identify each other’s needs and find ways to bridge the gap between them, the industry leader explained.
Lachica noted the importance of upskilling the workforce, particularly when it comes to emerging and disruptive technologies, such as artificial intelligence and the like, which have been shaking up a lot of industries at present over their serious potential to take away jobs from people.
While this is true to some extent, the SEIPI chief reckons that a technology-driven future does not have to be viewed as bleak. “The nature of the job will evolve according to the needs of the environment, but I don’t think jobs will disappear. We just need to upskill the workers,” he said.
Komunidad Global founder and chief executive officer Felix Ayque echoed the statements of his co-panelists, adding it is likewise crucial to develop among future graduates that entrepreneurial mindset, so they can have the audacity to build their own problem-solving startups, too.
Ayque mentioned that launching a startup these days is no longer limited to tech services, citing the case of other unicorn companies in Southeast Asia, which managed to acquire billion dollar valuation because of their innovative solutions to existing problems, especially climate change.
T.I.P. hosted the Komunidad Xchange forum titled “Unlocking Potential: Future Skills and Preparing Future Innovators” last July 12, 2023, as part of its commitment to produce graduates who will be ready to take on the challenges of an ever-changing workplace.
The predominantly engineering college has been engaged in various industry-academe partnerships and other government-sponsored projects since 2017 through its Technopreneurship and Collaborative Applied Research (TechnoCoRe) thrust.
The Komunidad forum was held in collaboration with the Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), T.I.P. Nurture Innovation Technology Revolution Office (NITRO), Earth Shaker Philippines, and SCALE NCR organization.