Smarter Education: Leveraging Stakeholder Inputs to Develop Work Ready Curricula

Society expects higher education institutions to produce a competent labour force composed of graduates who are well equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attributes required for contributing to the economy in today's fast-paced digital age. The ability of graduates to transition successfully into employment is explained by the concept of graduate work readiness, which is of escalating interest to employers worldwide. Adaptability, flexibility, complex problem solving, and innovativeness are critical work-ready skills for Industry 4.0 workplaces. This paper frames work readiness as an essential component of smart education. Smart education in today's digital age is complex and thus requires the coordination and cooperation of multiple stakeholders. Focusing on adaptation, the first level of the smart systems model, this study draws upon stakeholder theory to propose a new conceptual framework for the collaborative codesign of adaptive smart curricula to foster student work readiness.