Abstract: The design and development of new innovative business models are usually triggered by the arrival of new drivers for change and competitors who perturb the existing equilibrium of current business models. Today, higher education institutes (HEIs) are confronted with numerous challenges and are in need of an urgent transformation to remain competitively operating, stay relevant, and offer value in their role towards society in the years to come. Increasing numbers of unemployed graduate youth, democratization of knowledge, market contestability, competition for funding, global mobility, the rapid rise in digital technologies, and the arrival of online educational providers have all caused disruptions to the current broad-based higher education business models. As a result, HEIs need to re-evaluate their current business models to reclaim their relevancy and position as drivers of innovation, economic development and societal wellbeing. An improved or alternate business model needs to be designed and proposed, one that makes use of digital technologies, actively engages with the community, and incorporates aspects of the SDGs as a central part of its vision and mission. This paper addresses the aforementioned issues, as well as the current graduate youth unemployment issues in Bangladesh, and their need for digital entrepreneurial skills. The paper then proposes with the assistance of a design and systems thinking methodology, a validated conceptual business model using the Business Model Canvas (BVC) and Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) for a Malaysian University-of-the-Future (UotF) that aspires to contribute and assist Bangladesh’s low-income communities and their unemployed graduate youths. The validated business model indicates that the principal changes needed for the current business model includes the requirement to provide cheap freemium-based digital entrepreneurial education through digital platforms to educate and empower unemployed graduate youths to enhance their entrepreneurial skills to become job creators and increase their employability capabilities. Additionally, actively engaging with the low-income communities to assess, develop and provide simple innovative solutions through student projects fosters a pragmatic mindset, where the students are able to apply their theoretical knowledge into developing practical solutions.
Keywords: University-of-the-Future, SDGs, International Community Engagement, Bangladesh, Unemployed Graduate Youths, Digital Entrepreneurial Education, Digital Platforms, BMC, VPC.
Title: The Role of Malaysian UotF in the Digital and SDGs Era: Digital Entrepreneurial Education Programs through Digital Platforms and Community Engagement for the Unemployed Graduate Youths of Low-Middle Income Communities in Bangladesh
Author: Muhammad S., Abdul Rahman Ahmad Dahlan
International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology Research
ISSN 2348-1196 (print), ISSN 2348-120X (online)
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