Nigerian University Education and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Prospects and Challenges
Keywords:
Fourth industrial revolution, University, EducationAbstract
The study examined Nigerian university education and fourth Industrial Revolutions(4IR): prospect and challenges. 4IR is the current trend of automation and data exchange in labour, education, and other sectors of the nation. All universities in Nigeria are struggling to access technology as a measure to ascertain academic excellence through teaching and learning. 4IR builds on the digital revolution which is characterized by mobile internet, artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage and quantum computing among others. It included traditional technologies used in classrooms which are radio, television, tape recorder, projectors and also the software used for teaching and learning, which included graphic calculators, dynamic graphing tools, dynamic geometry tools, Microsoft spread-sheet, auto shape, mat lab, power points among others. The study highlighted the challenges of 4IR in Nigerian universities which are: funding, inadequate capacity building, inconsistent power supply, brain drain, maintenance, lack of skilled personnel, luxurious internet connectivity, among others. The study recommended that education stakeholders should train staff, and equip Nigerian universities with technological skills needed in the fourth industrial revolution era by synergizing labor market, education curriculum and equipment.
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