Public policy decisions related to education will have long-term implications on developing
the informated work place. As highlighted earlier, the absorptive capacity of individuals is
related to the breadth of prior knowledge that they possess. We would expect the approach
that should be taken in education be broadened and perhaps increase the content of academic
programs. The direction taken by the Malaysian Ministry of Education was the opposite. In
1999, it required that the duration of many degree programs in public universities be reduced
from 4 to 5 years. The number of credit hours required to graduate was also reduced. Equally
baffling was its decision in 2001 to basically reverse the decision made in 1999. It will only
be in the long-term that we will know the effect of such erratic decisions on the quality of
graduates and the ability to develop the imformated work place in Malaysia