Exploring the Emergence of Industrial Revolution 4.0: A Journey to Higher Education 4.0

In the next few decades, the future of higher education may change drastically as its systems are becoming incompatible with the increasing pace of technological advancement brought by the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Recent years have witnessed a rapid pace of new technological transition which played a crucial role in the previous industrial revolutions. This rapid technological transition affects almost every field of the emerging markets in economy, environment, culture and education. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is considered as the global technological transformation and revolution based on diverse modern technologies. In the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, education must be prepared to change with this technological transition. The main objective of this study is to explore the emergence of Higher Education 4.0 (HE 4.0) and review new trends, techniques and teaching methods practised in few Asian emerging markets in adopting HE 4.0. The study also provides a summary of the industrial revolution and educational evolution from 1.0 to 4.0 and addresses the significance of this transition. The findings of this study revealed that higher education needs to invest in this transition and emphasize on the applicable changes to the education system. The higher education institutions need to boost the initial awareness of education 4.0 among students as well as instructors by organizing training, workshops, seminars and conferences to enhance advancement needed for the time. Accordingly, there is a huge need to change educators’ mindset or culture towards the use of classroom technologies.