KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — Students who excel academically but have poor spiritual knowledge can bring “ruin” to the country if their intelligence is misused, Datuk Seri Najib Razak warned today.

The prime minister was weighing in on the rise in global terror threats by Islamist militant groups, which has seen a number of educated youths, university lecturers and professionals from Malaysia and other countries join in.

“If you're just smart but don't possess any spiritual values, they can use their intelligence to ruin our country.

“The most extreme example, you have higher education, but you use the knowledge to make a bomb. It’s not impossible in today's world,” he said in his speech during the launch of the National Higher Education Blueprint 2015-2025 here.

Part of the blueprint was also a bid to bring more industrial insight into the classroom, with several industry experts who will be invited to give 30 hours of lecture a year to students studying in their respective fields, as part of the CEO Faculty Programme.

“This programme involves a series of invited lectures, panel discussions, as well as co-teaching,” Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, said.  

Industry experts that will take part in the CEO Faculty Programme include AirAsia Bhd Group chief executive Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Media Prima Bhd chairman Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar, Jobstreet.com founder and chief executive officer Mark Chang as well as Khazanah Nasional managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar.

Also part of the blueprint was a move to implement an integrated cumulative grade point average (CGPA) system that would put equal emphasis on students’ academic abilities as well as their co-curricular abilities.

The National Higher Education Blueprint launched today saw a 10-step approach to transforming the higher education system, which includes improving the quality of vocational education, providing more monetary support to students and universities, encouraging research and publication, increasing collaboration with Asean tertiary institutions and increasing the usage of online learning.