KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 ­— The design thinking programme offered at Genovasi is the way forward to building critical thinkers in the workforce, said Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.

The Minister in Prime Minister’s Department said the programme brings to fore the need to have empathy for the end user, which would result in better services provided.

"Aside from empathy, it teaches critical thinking, which can help those in the services sector, especially in the government service, to cater to the needs of the people.

"We have received feedback on how more people should be taking up the course and we hope to see more application of design thinking in every aspect of education,” she said.

Rohani had earlier attended the "Cultivating a Thinking Culture” showcase where Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the elevation of Genovasi to a university college.

Malaysian Innovation Agency chief executive officer Datuk Mark Rozario said since the formation of Genovasi five years ago, it had produced over 3,000 alumni and witnessed the successful use of design thinking.

He said many of those who were sent through the programme had benefitted extensively from it, citing co-founder of open-market personal assistant application service GoGet, Francesca Chia, as a shining example.

"The more we apply design thinking, the more we see better service to the people, especially in the public sector.

"As for the private sector, the application of design thinking can help them come up with new and revolutionary products and services,” he said.

Genovasi Foundation chairman and trustee Tan Sri Abdul Ghafar Mahmud said Genovasi’s design thinking programme was developed to have maximum impact on students. 

Touching on the pilot Genosis programme, he said the project would be participated by ten schools from 2018 to 2020 and if successful, it would be a template for all schools nationwide.

"Teaching and learning is complicated, therefore we need a new approach that would impact more on the students, such as the International Baccalaureate programme.

"Our experiences at this will be used to develop a template or blueprint which will be offered to any interested school nationwide and abroad depending on how the final concept takes shape,” he said.