The Steps to be Taken in Higher Education for Successful Adaptation to Industry 4.0

Abstract

The progress of societies, their development, and their ability to compete economically depend on education. Education is both affected by changes in all these areas and affects them. The desired results from the new wave of industrial revolution called industry 4.0 can only be achieved through education as well. Industry 4.0 is the new industrial revolution that first appeared in Germany and includes applications such as autonomous vehicles, wearable technologies, artificial intelligence applications, block chain, and cloud computing systems. With the innovations brought by the revolution, it has been changing the ways of doing business and the competencies required from employees. Industry 4.0 requires university students to have new knowledge, competencies and skills before graduation, the workforce to acquire new skills, and the restructuring and transformation of higher education to achieve all of these. Thus, industry 4.0 is reshaping the future of education. This review study focuses on the connection of higher education and industry 4.0 by examining the national and international literature. It aims to present a general assessment of the steps to be taken in higher education in parallel with the requirements of industry 4.0 and the new competencies that should be acquired by graduates. It is concluded with some suggestions about what should be done regarding the international standards in order for the higher education curricula to adapt to the existing processes and changes, to train human resources in accordance with the conditions and demands of the age, what new competencies the workforce should have, and the steps to be followed regarding industry 4.0.