Are universities preparing our students for realities of 4IR?

As technologies become more powerful, we need technologists with a humane eye

MANY decades ago, famous social and political scientist Antonio Gramsci, better known for his theory of how the state and the ruling capitalists expropriated cultural institutions to maintain hegemonic relationships, articulated that: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”

He was describing how the old status quo is dying and how the new is yet to be born and this seems to have renewed relevance as the social, political and technological transformation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is upon us.

Now, well into the 21st century, we are entering a 4IR characterised by the parallel development of a band of seemingly independent technologies, each with world-changing potential. From artificial intelligence (AI) to genetic engineering, virtual reality, and digital currencies, these advances each promise huge benefits to society.

Yet this idealistic view doesn’t tell the whole story as the 4IR also poses serious challenges. As with previous industrial revolutions, the 4IR will transform the way we live, work and govern ourselves.

The nature of this era differs fundamentally from the previous, due to both the speed and the magnitude of the change facing us.

Preparing our students for what the 4IR will bring tomorrow must begin with education today. But with our destination so unclear, navigating our way forward is no small feat. It does not, however, prevent us from using our imagination.

How, for example should we educate tomorrow’s leaders to innovate and capitalise on unforeseen opportunities? And how should we educate our students through the many and significant changes they will face in their lifetime? What will our jobs be, if so many of them will be made redundant by advances like AI, robotics and autonomous vehicles? How will we prepare our students for jobs that don’t exist today?

Changes are coming, and fast, especially in the context of the technological disruptions in the 4IR. In contrast, universities – society’s main institutions for educating tomorrow’s leaders – are not known for changing quickly. They have been slow in the uptake of these new “revolutions”.

It’s becoming increasingly clear the universities must adapt to stay relevant, and do much more to encourage their students to acquire broadened skills sets and competencies.

The 4IR is the current and developing environment in which disruptive technologies and trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, virtual reality (VR) and AI are changing the way we live and work.

While the 4IR builds from the third, it’s considered a new era, due to the rapid growth, expansion and disruption of the new technologies.

It’s so disruptive that students today will be graduating into a workforce and applying for jobs that currently do not exist.

To prepare for the 4IR, teaching students how to learn is important. Students need to be able to continuously learn in order to adapt.

Universities need to assure that by the end of their studies, students are inquirers, thinkers, communicators and risk-takers; knowledgeable, principled, open-minded, caring, balanced and reflective. These will be the key traits relevant for working in the 4IR.

With disciplines being created and merged at a rapid rate, it makes little sense only to teach within boundaries that may soon cease to exist.

This holds for more than just technical skills: it’s easy to forget that in a world of such technological hype, a broad understanding of humanistic issues is crucial to tackle big challenges too.

Technological expertise without a humanistic understanding of the nature of the relationship between technology, user and broader society will yield technology that doesn’t actually reflect human demands.

Researchers have found that a relatively small percentage of employers think universities are preparing graduates adequately for work. Importantly, many of the skills employers observed as lacking are interpersonal and empathy skills, problem-solving and creative-thinking skills.

Such critical thinking is a necessary complement to discipline-based expertise, to avoid domain experts losing the contextualisation that a broader view can provide, and the ability and disposition to learn more when they need to.

Increasingly, the contemporary requirement for undergraduate degrees seems out-dated. With information freely available on the internet, curious students can learn at an individualised pace and direction.

Moreover, it seems unreasonable to expect a high school learner to have a clear view of his or her interests given the job he or she may do does not yet to exist.

Equally, we have to accept that individuals can no longer expect to hold one job with one company for life. The nature of work is evolving and research shows individuals will hold multiple jobs over a life time; continuous learning will be necessary in order to grow to suit changing jobs and technologies.

Higher education institutions need to understand the power of education to change lives and affect a better future for the world. To continue doing so at the advent of the 4IR, however, universities must reconsider how to conduct core basic research and translate applied research into real-world solutions. They must also reconsider what constitutes the core components of an education, and provide education as and when it is needed.

At the same time, in the 4IR universities must do a better job of ensuring students grasp the fundamental principles of a discipline, along with the basic skills of reasoning and communicating.

As technologies become more and more powerful, we need technologists with a humane eye and politicians with technological wiles to ensure a positive future.

For almost a millennium, universities have led humanity forward. They still have a crucial role to play. In the interest of the future it’s imperative that they tackle their task with urgency and vigour.

Changes are coming, and fast… In contrast, universities are not known for changing quickly. Universities must adapt to stay relevant