FU Dialogue Focused on Education 4.

Esteemed speakers from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Asian Institute of
Artificial Intelligence (AI2) discussed in a forum today, March 1 about the emerging trends in
education, work and industry in relation to the advancement of technology at the Sofia Soller Sinco
Hall.

Now on its 4th installment, Foundation Dialogue was centered on the topic: Education 4.0: In the Midst
of the 4th Industrial Revolution with speakers: Atty. Julito Vitriolo, Executive Director IV; General
Manager of AI2 Mary Anne Balmoria and Dennis Layug, President and Chair of AI 2 and serves as
President and Chief Executive Director of East West International Education Specialist. The discussion
was moderated by the Cyril Mapula, Foundation University’s Institutional Partnerships Manager.

To begin with the discussion, CHED Executive Director Vitriolo slowly oriented the audience on the
right skills to possess for the future towards what is called Education 4.0 – where programs must
respond to the needs of the industry, learning and teaching is done through global connectivity and that
learning can be done at any time or location. He also pointed out that learning process has evolved
from being teacher-centric in Education 1.0 to student-centric, a development that began in education
3.0 where the teacher now acts as the guide for the process.

Vitriolo then shared, “The 21st century paved the global entry into the 4 th Industrial Revolution which
will eventually precipitate the push towards Education 4.0.

“Academic freedom is important. Teach the way you want to teach. Make sure students possess the
rights skills after graduation and let them have some global/international experience,” said Vitriolo as
encouragement for the higher educational institutions that were present during the discussion.

Meanwhile, Balmoria talked about the emerging technologies related to the artificial intelligence and
cloud computing. She conditioned the mind of the audience that there is a rising trend of AI slowly
replacing human labor in most industries here and abroad. Balmoria named Digital Twin and
Blockchain as among the many which are being used in the market.

At the end of her talk, she revealed that the Philippines has been referred to as a nation not ready for the
4th industrial revolution. Balmoria then stressed on rigid preparation and that the Philippines should
focus on innovation in areas of mentorship, money and market. And that, individuals must up-skill in
order to cope with these changes in the industries.

Lastly, Dennis Layug, President and Chair of AI2, began his talk by emphasizing on the importance of
cooperation among different sectors – the higher education institutions, the government and private
entities and the industries in order to prepare for the 4th industrial revolution characterized by artificial
intelligence, Nanotechnology, 3D Printing, and many others.

He warned the audience that this has caused fear for many people and that have called this trend as
disruptive since several jobs will be called obsolete. Layug opened the audience to the reality’s that
business entities would rather choose to be more efficient and productive through the use of
technologies by means of automating the operations.
With his videos and illustration on artificial intelligence, Layug gave a glimpse to the audience on what
technology can actually affect the life of the people even at present.

At the last, he pointed out that because human skills can already be replaced with machines, the human
resource should upgrade their capabilities through internationally-recognized programs and
certifications.

“Welcome to the world of competition, in the 4th industrial revolution!” exclaimed Layug to end his
sharing of thoughts.
Foundation Dialogue, an initiative of the Foundation University Vicente Sinco School of Governance, a
soon-to-be-launched unit, is a platform that brings in experts and practitioners from different fields of
study and practice to engage in a civil and intellectual discourse on pressing social, economic, and
political issue of local and national reach to provide the audience valuable insights and well-founded
understanding of the issues at hand.

The Dialogue series aims to gather students, teachers, young professionals, experts, and other
stakeholders of the community to open the minds, allow exchange of ideas, and shape views on some
of the country’s current topics that affect the life of the academia, the community, and the industries, as
a whole.