The analysis of the response from tertiary education programs to the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Abstract

Abstract One can find at the level of the specialized literature a heated debate on the metaphor that defines the status of the international economy and human society. Some analysts argue that the Third Industrial Revolution is currently undergoing an advanced stage, while others claim that due to the speed, scale and impact of the transformations that have taken place, the fourth industrial revolution has already begun. This paper analyzes how the artificial intelligence, personalized medicine, virtual reality or the internet of things are a few motors that fueled the advance to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and their impact on cognitive competencies, skills and abilities to guarantee tertiary education programs. The main analytical hypothesis is that technology is the one that encourages humanity to accelerate and focus on changes in other areas, especially that the risk of increasing gap between technological advance and in areas such education appears. The paper examines the concrete way in which transformations that follow a symbiosis of man with technology contribute to the configuration of a new paradigm to which the educational environment has to face with. The paper aims also to highlight the main challenges of the educational environment in relation to the fourth industrial revolution, and what are the necessary transformation for a good correlation of the human capital with technological progress. Emphasis is on new sets of skills, creativity, innovation, so that new business models can be developed and applied in a changing environment.