Author(s)

Tran Thi Bich Lieu^1*, Nguyen Huu Duc², Nancy Webster Gleason^3,4, Duong Trong Hai^5,6, Nguyen Duy Tam⁷

¹VNU University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
²Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
³The Centre for Teaching and Learning, Yale-NUS College, Singapore.
⁴Global Affairs, Division of Social Sciences, Yale-NUS College, Singapore.
⁵Department of Information Technology, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Hochiminh City, Vietnam.
⁶Institute of Science and Technology of Industry 4.0, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Hochiminh City, Vietnam.
⁷School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Curricula have important effects on students’ professional skills. To prepare for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), countries are recommended to implement new curricula to develop new competencies for the automation workforce. As Information technology (IT) lays the foundations for the core 4IR-relevant emerging technologies (big data, internet of things, artificial intelligence, etc.), countries have developed new IT engineering curricula to prepare engineers for the 4IR. By conducting a structured focused comparison for bachelor IT curricula containing core 4IR modules of 57 Vietnamese and 35 Malaysian universities, this research aims to find appropriate approaches in developing curricula to prepare 4IR competencies for IT engineering students for Malaysia, Vietnam and implications for other nations. The research found that, only new stand-alone curricula with a focus on 4IR competencies can prepare engineers for the 4IR. It then provides seven lessons for designing new 4IR engineering curriculum and for continuing studies on 4IR-ready curriculum.

Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Information Technology (IT), 4IR Engineering Competencies, 4IR Undergraduate IT Engineering Curriculum, Malaysian Higher Education, Vietnamese Higher Education

Lieu, T. , Duc, N. , Gleason, N. , Hai, D. and Tam, N. (2018) Approaches in Developing Undergraduate IT Engineering Curriculum for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Malaysia and Vietnam. Creative Education, 9, 2752-2772. doi: 10.4236/ce.2018.916207.