Technology and Workplace Skills for the Twenty-First Century examines many of the rapid changes taking place at the intersection of workplace demands and higher education throughout the Asia Pacific region. The globalized, interdependent twenty-first century workforce is built around computing, communication, and automation. These characteristics have changed the ways in which higher education is connected to the workforce and raised the stakes for educating students for the changing workforce. In this book, scholars and education leaders throughout Asia Pacific and the US investigate how the changing needs of the workforce have shaped higher education's curriculum, methods, and orientation, and show how different Asia Pacific countries have responded differently to these challenges.
"Globalization, technology, degree qualifications, employment prospects, and innovation are all complex topics that accompany discussions about the future of higher education. Sorting through all of these issues and exploring models that aid in understanding what actually happens in higher education becomes more complex in an increasingly saturated market of commentary on colleges and universities. This volume makes a great contribution in digesting these critical issues by focusing on learning competencies and offering concrete examples of the most cutting edge approaches to higher education in the twenty-first century." - Christopher S. Collins, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Azusa Pacific University, USA
"This book explores the terrain of higher education in a rapidly changing Asia Pacific region where technology of all forms plays a major role. It provides analyses of higher education efforts to adapt to this increasingly global environment in its chapters on a diverse range of topics. These topics examine the challenges that higher education faces through conceptual analyses of the dynamics at play and country-specific studies of how universities in different countries in the region have responded to these challenges. An invaluable guide to the changing landscape of higher education in the Asia Pacific region for scholars and practitioners alike, the blend of analysis from different contexts will also be essential reading for students in courses onhigher education." Azirah Hashim, Professor in English Language and Linguistics and Executive Director, Asia-Europe Institute and Director of the Centre for ASEAN Regionalism, University of Malaya, Malaysia
"In an increasingly globally interdependent economy, this book will make a significant contribution to the role that higher education will play in preparing its graduates for a constantly changing job market. Of particular importance is that this collection of essays recognizes the shift in the educational paradigm that will result from the rise in globalization and the explosion of information worldwide. It predicts that higher education will not only necessarily engage with the rapidly changing needs of the labor market and the increasing technological sophistication of their students, but also that it will contend with the need for faculty development in new technologies, engagement with digital modes of course delivery, and adaptation of decision making structures as it seeks to remain relevant to this new generation of learners." - Valentina M. Abordonado, Assistant Dean for General Education, Office of Academic Affairs, Hawai'i Pacific University, USA
