In a commentary, SMU Adjunct Professor Joergen Oerstroem Moeller, who is also Visiting Senior Fellow with ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute and Adjunct Professor at Copenhagen Business School noted that education and research are increasingly out of touch with demand for skills. The tendency to focus on cognitive skills, including the STEM topics of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, cannot preclude the productivity benefit of soft skills – applying knowledge and finding opportunities offered by technology.

The old way of guidance and way of doing things have become obstacles to progress. Students must now learn to prepare to work for situations with no paradigms and learn the key to sharing information through technology and fulfilling potential through research and innovation. Universities must play a more direct role in forging societies and interact more with government, business and societies. Barriers among disciplines must be torn down and students must give thought to how their skills can be applied in any area.