Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

This chapter introduces the reader to the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), highlighting the trends in higher education (HE) and the types of pedagogy necessary to produce human capacities in creativity and critical thinking. The arguments and case studies of the book are outlined. HE must change to adapt to the 4IR. The importance of interdisciplinary whole-person development is emphasized. This is coupled with a pedagogy that helps students learn to learn, not just what to learn. Case study examples of ways in which governments and HE institutions are already changing from China, Costa Rica, Singapore, and South Africa are outlined.

Lewis argues that a liberal arts education will become increasingly important in the twenty-first century because the automation economy requires more than ever that individuals develop the cognitive flexibility and the habits of mind that allow for life-long learning. This article offers some historical context for the efforts of Yale and NUS to found a new liberal arts college in Asia. Lewis argues that liberal arts education attempts to shape students’ through engagement in a shared shaped by across various disciplines and points of view.

Yang and Cheng underscore the locally embedded rationales that underpin both institutional and individual experiences of contemporary higher education (HE). Drawing on two empirically researched case studies, comprising of (1) student mobility between China, India, and Singapore and (2) transnationalization of HE involving cross-border provision of educational programs in Singapore, they reveal how uneven mobilities and transnational linkages continue to be shaped by global hierarchies of knowledge, prestige, and reputation. They further suggest that current preoccupations with fourth industrial revolution’s impact on HE is colored by technocratic and technophilic discourses that ignore ‘on the ground’ experiences of the disadvantaged and marginalized. As such, critical and culturalist perspective is both timely and essential to advance a more complex understanding of an increasingly mobile and transnationalized HE landscape.

Dempsey and Malpas consider the future of the academic library in the context of a diversifying higher education system. The academic library is not fixed. It is changing as it adapts to the changing research and learning behaviors of its home institution, which are the principal drivers of the library service. Dempsey and Malpas explore ways in which libraries are responding to the transition from a collections-based model to a more diffuse services-based model. This is in parallel with the evolving influence of the network on student, teacher and researcher practices and with the shift from print to digital. They describe diversification of the higher education system, around poles of research, liberal education and career preparation. Academic libraries similarly will diverge, with different service bundles depending on the type of educational institution they serve. This means that the model of excellence for libraries also will need to be plural, based on strategic fit to the needs of the institution they serve and not on collection size or gate count.

China’s success at modernizing over the last 30 years has followed a consistent pattern comprising investigation of best-in-class models from other countries, experimentation in China, and then mass adoption through government edict or market demand. In this chapter, May and Yuan describe the state of current higher educational reform efforts in support of innovation; explore the obstacles facing far reaching reform, offer a view about the likelihood of success and the potential emergence of a ‘Chinese model’ for innovation; and identify some lessons other countries might draw from China’s experience. May and Yuan use their own experience, introducing and teaching ‘Design Thinking’ to STEM students at a Chinese university as a case study to explore how best to develop critical thinking skills in the automation context.

Müller discusses three urgent challenges for higher education in the context of environmental degradation and the fourth industrial revolution. These include the need to move from disciplinary approaches to holistic ones; adapting to disruptive technological advancements. This is about identifying what is truly important for survival of our civilization and responding through appropriate programs that are focused, timed, priced and delivered according to the changing demands of youth. He advocates for a regenerative development approach. Education for regenerative development addresses humanity’s greatest challenges, that have escaped the radar of most higher education institutions and, in spite of being of utmost importance for the human civilization to survive, have not been mainstreamed into academic programs and even less into public policy.

Developing the skills and mindset for lifelong learning is an essential response to technological unemployment. While Singapore has always seen education as a development tool, recent government initiatives reflect a determined commitment to develop employable citizens for the automation economy. Singapore has launched three initiatives—Smart Nation Singapore, SkillsFuture, and the creation of three new universities—in preparation for the automation economy. Gleason details these education-based initiatives and considers how they are intended to address employment challenges in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. Gleason concludes that Singapore’s Ministry of Education has provided a collection of sound policies for higher education leaders to consider and adapt to their context.

Bo, Marwala, and Marwala propose an adaptive approach whereby both educators and learners employ an Adopt Fast and Adapt Quick strategy for higher education in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. Their proposal presents evidence from a “smart mining” case in South Africa as implemented by the University of Johannesburg. Findings detail an adaptive solution to new demands in the higher education arena, which address issues of accessibility, digital literacy, acceleration, pan-regionalization, transformation, inclusiveness, vision, and engagement of students.

This chapter provides an assessment of how previous industrial revolutions have impacted higher education in the United States and around the world. Penprase assesses new STEM instruction that develops technical capacity in emerging technologies in active and project-based settings. The societal changes from the 4IR will require higher education to develop greater capacity for ethical and intercultural understanding, placing a premium on liberal arts-type education with modifications to adapt to the particular issues raised by 4IR technologies and their disruptions to society. Penprase argues that a rapid adjustment of on-campus curriculum is needed by expanding its capacity to accommodate the acquisition of new knowledge by students, faculty and alumni, with new modalities of instruction that leverage the digital advances from the Third Industrial Revolution.