Views of students at the University of Johannesburg on the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Abstract: The dissertation considers the views of students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Under the leadership of its vicechancellor, Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, UJ has been at the forefront of South African universities in advancing studies related to the 4IR. The research presented here may have some value in addressing the challenges associated with the 4IR in higher education. In doing so, it tackles the subject of how students view the 4IR, specifically in South Africa; a topic that has barely been touched upon in existing literature. The study employed a mixed methods approach, and findings were derived from, first, a quantitative component, and, secondly, a qualitative one. The former draws on responses to the researcher’s questions included in a large official survey, where analysis was limited to undergraduates. The latter was derived from group discussions and follow-up interviews with groups of honours-level students from two contrasting departments: Electrical Engineering, which includes cutting-edge technical aspects of the 4IR, and Sociology, which deals with important social issues that are arising. The quantitative research included five demographic, and six opinion questions. There was widespread support for fundamentally changing university education. However, when comparing; (a) men and women, and (b) UJ’s eight faculties, there were significant differences. On the question of whether students’ careers will benefit from the 4IR, male students were considerably more confident than females, and students from the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FEBE), which includes the electrical engineers, were very confident; while those from certain other faculties, such as Humanities (FH), which includes Sociology, were far less so. Interestingly, FEBE is the most male dominated faculty and FH is the most female dominated...M.A. (Industrial Sociology