The skills challenge: Computers can beat us at board games, cars no longer need drivers and AI is set to turn fiction into reality. So what skills will people need in the future? Nothing that a university education can deliver,. In a world in which machines can learn new skills much faster than we ever thought possible, and humans are living increasingly long lives: leaving education in your twenties and retiring at 65, often after sticking to one profession, may no longer be possible. But, asks Member of ICIFE Eminent International Advisory Board, Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli A Razak, “whose responsibility will that be, and who will fund it? So, it’s time to reinvent the future of employment and the starters should be with training!”

In this context, Universiti Islam Sains Malaysia (USIM) one of the Founding Institutional Members of ICIFE has confirmed to host the 5-day HRDF sponsored Training Certification Program at its main campus in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli who is also USIM Chairperson has requested Associate Professor Dr. Zulkifli Hassan, Dean of USIM Faculty of Syariah and Law (FSU) to be the focal point in coordinating the implementation of this program in the 1st Quarter of 2017. This collaborative decision mas firmed-up with ICIFE Director Dr. Haji Zulkifly Baharom at the Credential presentation of HRDF Training Certification to three (3) successful graduates of the 2nd series of ICIFE-HRDF Training Program 2016. The said ceremony was graced by Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli at the Office of USIM Chairperson @ 5th Floor USIM Cancelori Building.

For the 2nd Series of credential presentation ceremonies for 20 successful graduates, it was held at exclusively three different locations i.e. @ the Head Office of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) @Cotabato City graced by the Regional Governor Hon. Mujiv Hataman; @ IIUM Centre for Strategic Continuing Education & Training (CRESENT) KL graced by Prof Dr, Ainul Jaria Maidin, Dean of Crescent; and @ USIM respectively. The three graduates from USIM namely:

1. Br. Annuar Khan Abdul Ghafur, FSU & FEM Adjunct Lecturer
2. YM Raja Raziff Raja Shaharuddin, Deputy Director, Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Wisma Putra

3. Br. Asmoni Talib, General Manager RHB Bank Training Institute (on duty travel in London represented by Dr. Haji Zul)

Prof Tan Sri Dzulkifli during networking session with the graduates has aptly articulated that “We should brace ourselves for some even more dramatic shifts in the decades to come, with technological advances and increasing longevity forcing all of us to re-examine our approach to both education and skills. The real skills crisis is how we keep ours relevant as we live longer and robots get smarter. Technology is likely to wipe out many traditional skills: as 40 percent of jobs could be automated in the next 10-15 years. How many new roles will be created in that time remains one of the known unknowns”