Transforming Educational Programmes For Future Industry 4.0 Capabilities

The implementation of Industry 4.0 fundamental changes the prerequisites for future industrial production on a larger scale leading to a new situation. However, traditionally educational activities are solely focusing on the individual domains within the technologies driving the changes. But the implementation of Industry 4.0 will also affect how the different groups of engineers and technicians should act and collaborate, and eventually how they should perceive the future industrial production to innovate. Future engineers and technicians must accordingly adopt a new understanding of the situation. Furthermore, many educational activities are taking place within isolated technical disciplines/domains, lacking the cross-disciplinary approach and understanding embedded in Industry 4.0. Accordingly, there is a need to strengthen and develop new activities ensuring the needed competences across domains. It is therefore of vital importance that the latest research within this area outputs back into the educational activities as this fundamental change the prerequisites for future industrial production, changing the needs from the industry. Accordingly, there is a necessity to update the content of the existent curriculum to the labour market and societal needs and develop high-quality skills and competencies to address future demands from industry. This must be done with significant contribution to innovation in education institutions and application of latest research and newest interdisciplinary and cross border approaches and methods to ensure transferability potential not only between the sectors and disciplines but countries as well.