4.0 Revolution, Work, and Education: Effects of the Pandemic

The Case of UNIMINUTO

Abstract

The 4.0 Revolution driven by new information and communication technologies is generating technological changes in production systems, demanding entrepreneurs to invest in new technologies in the realm of automation and application of Artificial Intelligence. It requires new skills for workers to operate in technological spaces, and necessitates regulatory frameworks from states to ensure conditions for free entrepreneurial development and respect for workers' rights to dignified work. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the process of technological updating in society at large, particularly within companies. It also highlighted social inequalities and the difficulties faced by wide segments of the informal economy in accessing ICT (Information and Communication Technologies). Higher education faces the challenge of contributing to the development of skills that both companies and independent workers need to live dignified lives.

The pandemic expedited the automation of productive processes within a context where social inequalities were underscored. The Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios, UNIMINUTO, aware of the ongoing era change and the current educational focus where the student assumes a leading role, tackles this challenge through the adoption of a new Institutional Development Plan 2020-2025, titled "Learning for Transformation," and updates its educational model reflected in the Institutional Educational Project "Transformative experiences and innovation in service of learning" (2021), promoting hybrid learning. With these institutional options, it aims to contribute to the development of necessary skills for improved performance of 21st-century professionals and workers.