Engineering education towards industry 4.0

Abstract

Many countries are now entering the stage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution also referred to as Industry 4.0 in which technological advances enable disruptive changes in the industry. Industry 4.0 development changes the way people work and the work is organized. Currently there is a lack of qualified workers capable of undertaking the jobs of the Industry 4.0 and unfortunately many schools and universities are still training students behind the Industry 4.0. The new industry 4.0 developments have created requirement of new cross-functional roles on the emerging knowledge and skills combining information technology (IT) and production. Therefore it is important to understand the characteristics of knowledge and skills required for the future of jobs and engineering profiles to determine the emerging patterns in the delivery of new education requirements of Industry 4.0. This work aims to address how the future of higher education should be towards Industry 4.0 developments for engineering faculties. We also aim to present what the technological trends in education as well as how the universities are required to integrate the new innovative and multidisciplinary approaches in teaching and how to stimulate entrepreneurial and digital skills in higher education and boost curricula adjustments. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.