Digital Transformation of Industry and Higher Education. University Students Perception and Awareness About Industry 4.0 in Calabria (Italy). Emerging Trends from an Ongoing Study

Rosario Ponziano
University of Calabria

Abstract

Starting from 2016, the spread of industry 4.0, in Italy, has raised unprecedented questions about the possible changes that involve higher education, with particular reference to students enrolled in engineering courses. With the implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies, new types of employment will be created and today's students will work in the future in an increasingly globalized, automated and interconnected world; it will therefore be necessary to obtain new skills and abilities required by the ongoing digital transformation. Accordingly to these premises, the objective of this research – still ongoing - is to collect the perceptions of university students in Calabria on some specific topics: their level of knowledge of Industry 4.0 and the main enabling technologies, their degree of awareness of the necessary competences for their future work and the suitability of degree courses according to the transformations underway. The research methodology is quantitative-descriptive and a structured questionnaire was handed in order to collect data. According to what has arisen from the sample (about 100 students enrolled in the Department of Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering of the University of Calabria), most of the interviewees stated to know Industry 4.0 fairly / very well, even if the level of knowledge was related to the term in which they are enrolled and to the type of technology mentioned (augmented reality, collaborative robots, Internet of things, etc.). Among the e-skills regarded essential for their future work, most of them (52%) consider the "ability to manage innovative solutions by applying 4.0 technologies to business processes" to be fundamental, but just over half of the interviewees believe that the university does not offer them suitable degree courses to obtain these skills.

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