IR 4.0 and Malaysian Hospitality Higher Education: The Emergence of a New Teaching Era

Abstract

The rise of industrial revolution 4.0 or IR 4.0 in this millennium will create great challenges to the global higher education. In the case of hospitality and tourism industry, the emergence of digital revolution will have significant impacts since there is a close relationship between both sectors. Given the fact that hospitality and tourism education is the main platform in shaping and providing the workforce for the industry, it is crucial for the hospitality higher education providers to adapt with the digital innovations and technological advancements in the hospitality programmes. This paper aims to uncover the issues encountered by Malaysian hospitality higher education in adapting the emergence of the IR 4.0 digital revolution particularly on the teaching preferences and delivery methods. For this conceptual paper, literature reviews from journal articles, conference proceedings and theses, online books and news clippings related to the topic of the study are utilised. Further empirical research should be conducted to uncloak the issues faced by the hospitality higher education on the impacts of industrial revolution 4.0. There is also a greater need to study the challenges faced by the hospitality and tourism providers towards the IR 4.0 so that the hospitality higher education can acknowledge the needs and wants of the industry players in this millennium.