**3. The 4IR and engineering**

In parallel to the above developments engineering education has been in the grip of its own revolution for some time. Starting slowly in a small number of universities and pioneered by new schools of engineering such as Olin College [25] and The Lassonde School of Engineering "home of the Renaissance Engineer™" [26] there has been a growing debate on the skill set needed by the engineering graduate of the future. The core of these developments can be distilled to two main directions. The first is the inclusion of a boarder skill set into discipline-specific engineering degrees. Proponents argue that the 'math-science death march' [27] whereby multiple years of fundamental maths and science knowledge is required before students are able to engage in creative practical activities should be replaced with a more holistic approach to the formation of engineers with authentic, open and societally relevant projects from early in the curriculum [28]. The second, connected, direction is the need for engineers to have an interdisciplinary perspective. This follows from the first in that, if students are to be challenged with authentic, open and societally relevant projects, then these projects will no longer respect established disciplinary boundaries: they imply more integrate or interdisciplinary approaches. Therefore, the student teams assembled to address them must be interdisciplinary in nature unless the context is to be boiled down to 'toy' versions of the true problem [29]. Few, if any of the great challenges that we face as a society will be solved by a single discipline, while the emergence of new technologies created in a vacuum is already having a profound and often arguably negative impact on humanity.

The current work in reimagining skills for future industry strongly supports this direction of travel calling for interdisciplinarity to be at the heart of the design of future education systems. The report 'The skills implications of Industry 4.0' cites an industry example where the requirement is for "employees who are Industry 4.0 specialists with interdisciplinary skills for example uniting class mechatronics with good IT knowledge and strong social skills." ([2], p. 3). This example is supported by the outcome of the EU workshop on Enabling Technologies for Industry 5.0 where they identify a need in the workforce to be "Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, the requirement to integrate different research disciplines (e.g., life sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities) is complex and must be understood in a systems approach." ([30], p. 6).

All the emerging models described above share a renewed focusing on creativity and interdisciplinarity within the engineering curriculum. While these are undoubted important skills for the modern role of the engineer and in the near future, will they be sufficient to prepare students for the future industrial landscape of digitisation, automation and eventually personalisation?

If we consider the future where "by 2025, humans and machines will split workrelated tasks 50-50, while 97 million new jobs will emerge in AI, the Green economy and Care economy." [7] we see that there is both considerable need and significant opportunity for new skills. This dispels the views of some that I4.0 will replace existing jobs, as the Manpower report "Skills revolution reboot: The 3Rs - Renew, Reskill, Redeploy" [31] argues strongly, automation and hiring seem to go hand in hand. However, the Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2020 [32], which concluded

that 70% of young people believe they only have some of the skills that will be required to succeed in the work of the future raised significant concern about the perception of the current preparation.

However, we do note differences in the tone surrounding the key focus of industry 4.0/5.0. Although there is no universal definition. In the US and in China, for example in the 'Made in China 2025' governmental initiative [33] there is a heightened emphasis on the economic benefits of this revolution. Whereas in Europe, the European Commission provides a more human-centric voice with their definition, which states: "Industry 5.0 recognises the power of industry to achieve societal goals beyond jobs and growth to become a provider of prosperity, by making production respect the boundaries of our planet and placing the wellbeing of the industry worker at the centre of the production process." ([30], p. 6). In linking 'Industry 5.0' to 'Society 5.0' [34] they argue that a key focus of this revolution should be committed to achieving Sustainable Development Goals, including equality, climate change, peace, justice, eradicating poverty, and prosperity.

A message of global responsibility and societal good chimes with research in engineering education [35] as well as survey data, presented in the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, "Millennials at work – Reshaping the workplace", which suggests for millennials, once their basic needs such as adequate pay and working conditions, are met, the social values of the company become highly important when choosing an employer. The report states: "millennials want their work to have a purpose, to contribute something to the world and they want to be proud of their employer." [36].

In the UK there has been an emphasis on the process by which new graduates will obtain the skills of the future and how existing employees will be upskilled rather than focusing on the skills themselves. This is in line with the broader skills agenda of the UK Government and the longer-term industrial strategy which has necessarily had a change of perspective in light of BREXIT. The report "Manufacturing the future workforce" by the high-value manufacturing catapult calls for new models of education including the use of modular content related to emerging technologies to support the achievement of amended and new skills requirements ([37], p. 11). It also a follows a recognisable path of describing the need for co-creation between industry and academia in the development of such material ([37], p. 11). A similar recommendation is made by WorkSkillsUK in a report sponsored by the UK Department of Education - "greater co-operation between industry and educational institutions will be vital in ensuring the sector has the Industry 4.0 skills it needs for the future." ([2], p. 3) echoing the message of the European commission which suggests "increasing university-industry collaboration" and "Acknowledging the role of industry partners as educational, research and employment partners, and ensuring their engagement in the full student's learning experience," ([38], p. 17).

More recently there have been a number of reports that look to address the skills issue more directly. For example, a report for the European Commission in 2020 observed that "The main emphasis still needs to be put on the technical skills forming the core of this profession." ([38], p. 13) although then proceeds to offer a more cautionary tone, noting "However, rapidly advancing technology requires a general mind-set for continuous improvement and lifelong learning. It is no longer just about what one knows, but increasingly about one's ability to adapt to continuously changing circumstances and to constantly advance one's knowledge and skills. Focussing on technical skills only is thus not enough" ([38], p. 13), before supporting the agreement for the current direction of change saying "crucial nontechnical skills … , among others, to critical thinking, creativity, communication skills and ability to work in teams." ([38], p. 14). This work is part of the EU's goal

*Fusion Skills and Industry 5.0: Conceptions and Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100096*

of "Europe Fit for the Digital Age" making digital innovation a priority within the member states. In achieving this it looks firmly toward skills: "Education, training, re-skilling and up-skilling are certainly among the most pressing issues to address when accommodating the digital transition in industries, as qualified human capital is of the utmost importance to make it a reality." ([38], p. 28).

Although the range of sectors considered is huge there is some agreement on the types of skills that the future workforce will require. One example of how they are could be broadly grouped comes from the World Manufacturing Forum's Top Ten Skills for the Future of Manufacturing [39]:


This example is not atypical and demonstrates the mix of aspects that is usually seen in such work. It stimulates a debate as to the structures and processes best place to develop these skills [40]. However, most striking is the contrast between the typically formulation of current skill sets, heavily focused on knowledge of operations and the much more holistic requirements of the skills suggested of the future age. Although, not surprisingly, digital skills come top of the list, digital skills are not the only skills that will be pertinent for industry workers in the future. As can see, only four of the areas set out directly refer to digital skills: "digital literacy, AI and data analytics," "working with new technologies," "cybersecurity", and "datamindfulness". The remaining 'skills' are more transversal skills linked to habits of the mind or ways of thinking. .

Although these lists provide an interesting starting point for the discussion of education of the future, the skills presented here are very much still framed in current terms. To be able to delve deeper into future needs, further interrogation is required of the role of the workforce in future industry to draw out more specific challenges to the education system of Industry 5.0.

#### **4. Engineering and specialisation: current and future perspectives**

Around the world, engineering in higher education responded positively during the latter decades of the 20th Century to support the move from standardised to

customised and bespoke models of production in all spheres of industry. In the last 30 years for example, shifts have occurred in curricula and pedagogy, internationally as well as in the UK, and we have seen an increase in the models of engineering education that have moved from single-discipline siloes of engineering theory that prepared graduates for highly technical work in isolated domains, to increasingly practical educational compositions, focusing on engineering design. This development has, however, been uneven within departments of engineering in different countries. One common reason is that departments of engineering have continued to emphasise the value of foundational skills in mathematics and engineering sciences alongside the introduction of more practically-orientated approaches, and have selectively adopted appropriate curricula and pedagogic models.

From the discussion of future skills needs above, it is clear that this approach to education is going to be problematic. In the majority of universities, the disciplines do not just function as collectives based on thematic areas but are typically woven into the fundamental administrative structures of the organisation. Of course, organisation restructuring is not impossible, albeit considerably less common in the academy than in industry. However, the breaking down of such structures to enable evolutions in teaching approaches requires a multifaceted approach to leadership, that encompasses administration, research and teaching interest simultaneously. These systemic barriers to implementing, what is often seen in this context as radical change, are not to be underestimated. Although, despite many institutions still struggling to find the inertia to break free of these institutional bonds, we argue that such transformations are necessary if the truly integrated programmes required to deliver the skills requirements we identify are to be achieved.

#### **4.1 Integrated approaches to engineering curricula**

Despite, these challenges, there are many positive signs of developments that are excellent starting points to demonstrate the value of an integrated approach. For example, an increasing set of institutions have looked to frame their engineering curriculum in the profound societal needs of the 21st Century (e.g. Global Grand Challenges [41], 21st Century Grand Challenges [42], Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21.st Century [43]), typically via the UN sustainable development goals to provide context to the technical education being provided. However, despite the progress in some quarters, there are continuing requests from industry for an improvement in graduates' communication and teamwork skills and to enhance their appreciation for, or experience with, the non-technical aspects of engineering solutions and innovation processes but, in addition, there is an emerging industry clamour for new technical competences and skills to match new technologies. Another challenge is that "Recently, a more comprehensive view of innovation has emerged which has led to educational interventions that aim at fostering creativity and thinking skills, as well as non-disciplinary skills such as entrepreneurial capacities, in a wide number of contexts, for all pupils and students, irrespective of their field of study" ([44], p. 206). There is a strong call for educators to instil qualities of resilience, creativity, empathy, flexibility and teamwork, as well as technical and analytical expertise, so as to enable students to be more innovative and entrepreneurial [45]. Given the pressing need for engineering competences, teaching that continues to be confined to single subjects (e.g. heat transfer in one course, thermodynamics in another, environmental engineering in another, technical writing in another, etc.) with little reference to one another, delays the development of proficiency in the fundamentals, methods of modern engineering practice, cultural literacy, and the generic competences required for success [46].

This drive toward greater interdisciplinarity is not new. As discussed earlier, this has been the direction many revisionist engineering educators have travelled from some time. However, we argue that as the 4IR takes hold, this will no longer be a beneficial approach to the formation of future engineers, but a necessary one. Current developments have been encouraged and supported by industry [47] and driven on by wide range of commentaries that have lamented the shortage of skilled graduate engineering that are available to enter the workforce [1, 48, 49]. The resulting innovations and developments have followed the principles outlined above, a focus on a broader skill set of creativity, team-work, and communications and an emphasis on interdisciplinary and authentic problem solving.

One of the first and most wide-ranging model came with the founding of Aalborg University in 1974 with an all-pervasive model of Problem- and Project-Based Learning [50]. The developments drew on the principles popularised by Barrows [51] of using problems as the central point around which the learning experience is based. In engineering, the problems typically are elicited as group projects, which occupy approximately half of the students' time. In the years since a number of notable new entrants have developed innovative models of engineering that balance the acquisition of knowledge and skills through problem or practice led curricula. In the late 90's the F.W. Olin Foundation founded the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, USA with a vision of holistic approach to engineering education embracing creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and design. A three-stage curriculum with design projects in each year is described, with a Multidisciplinary Foundation, followed by a specialisation phase and a realisation phase incorporating authentic capstone project experiences [25]. By taking this approach, the university has already attained several higher education goals in engineering education: their student body is gender balanced, they have the highest graduation rates in the US and graduates have successful pathways including graduate school attendance, employment and entrepreneurship. Olin especially expects to make a difference in terms of the supply of engineers into the US economy, and the world, and thus actively pursues collaborations with other higher education engineering institutes as well as industry, governments and other engineering stakeholders. Their ambitious goal is to revolutionise engineering education by treating students as engineers from day-one so they hit the ground running since the curriculum and pedagogy emphasise real-world scenarios with everything from project proposal to meeting minutes, to progress reports and plans on innovation iterations [52].

A decade later saw schools such as the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University in Canada admit their first students in 2012 and 2013 respectively. SUTD formed with a collaborated between MIT and Zhejiang University is a research-intensive university built on a multi-disciplinary foundation of no departments or schools. The curriculum is highly active and design-centred with a collaborative approach to maker-based learning in specialised 'fab labs' or make-spaces [52]. With a mission to create renaissance engineers, the Lassonde School of Engineering emphasised an entrepreneurial mind-set with a social conscience and a sense of global citizenship. It set out to have a 50:50 gender balance, something that would set it apart from the majority of engineering majors and through co-operative education and industry partnerships [26].

In recent years more have emerged. In 2016 Charles Sturt University in Australia established their new degree in Civil Systems engineering, with a heavy focus on entrepreneurial engineers in their local regional. The intense, fast-track programme offers a significant work-place learning complimented by a 'topic-tree' approach to learning that offers around 1000 topics arranged in branches that offer a flexible

learning environment to the cohort. In the UK, two new entrants gained approval to accept their first cohort in 2021. TEDI London, part of a collaboration between Arizona State University, King's College London and UNSW Sydney offers an Industry-led and project-based curriculum in global design engineering. Conceived as an inherent interdisciplinary programme it arranges projects in themes (for example smart cities or user-centred design) rather than disciplines. NMITE, the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering offers an accelerated degree in Integrated Engineering. Structured more like a job with 46 weeks of 9–5 Monday to Friday activity, it utilises real-world challenges in the form of 3 ½ week 'sprints' as part of a lecture-less and exam-less approach.

While some of the most innovative approaches have appeared in new entrants, that is not to say that significant innovation has not also occurred in traditional, incumbent universities. The nature of the reform is often different due to the need to navigate legacy structures and in most cases the reforms very much reflect the context of the institution. However, the scale at which these developments occur is often considerably larger that the that seen in the emerging schools.

One significant and globally supported response to reimagining engineering education is CDIO [53], a worldwide community of practice, that developed new pathways through an inspired set of principles that engineering education could use in strengthening its approaches to the thinking, becoming and doing of engineering. Educating through a process of Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate, CDIO describes engineers as professionals that contributed not only to a specific part of innovation, but holistically; solving problems identified by others. It identifies engineers as conceiving problems and areas of enhancement on their own and working with divergent groups of experts - being creative, as well as technical and theoretical - grasping that inventing is not enough if routes to implementation are not well understood or better, experienced, and that abstract models and complex logic had to result in something useful that could serve a purpose in the world. Becoming an engineer meant you could tap into many more facets of innovation that make use of hard-skills without limits as to the scope of activity. The importance of engineering processes is elevated to its current position: equal footing to the technical aspects of engineering. Yet implementing the new curriculum objectives, pedagogy and engineering education management would take on several forms and even meet resistance, contributing to the enduring imbalances in engineering education and offerings by HEI still apparent today.

Perhaps one of the best know reform programmes started in 2007 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Illinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering Education or iFoundry, started offering cross-disciplinary curriculum options citing founding principles of the joy of engineering, learning, and community [27]. Today it is hardly visible as a programme in its own right, but instead has driven reform in engineering education across the school.

At UCL in London, UK, problem-based learning was first introduced in electronic and electrical engineering in 2004 in response to recommendations made by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now IET) Industry Course Working Party. Over a number of years, it expanded and developed to integrate curriculum knowledge from various specific areas (e.g. electronics, communications, control, etc.) by emphasising learning that uses a problem/scenario as a starting point for learning, integrating knowledge, rather than compartmentalising and sequencing learning in individual silos. In 2014 UCL Engineering introduced a new programme that encompassed all engineering programmes in the faculty. The Integrated Engineering Programme (IEP) has an intake of around 1000 students and introduces problem-based and project-based learning to first-year engineering students across all departments, emphasising the success of this pedagogical

approach. This familiarises students with self-directed learning at the start of their university studies, which will carry them through to lifelong learning in the workplace. It implemented Engineering Challenges, which give first-year students an opportunity to put their learning into practice through interdisciplinary, problem-based learning with a design focus in two major five-week design projects starting from the first day of term [54]. To support students, a strand of professional practice, including teamwork and communications skills, has been introduced. This builds through a pattern of interdisciplinary and disciplinary project-based activities culminating, at the end of the second year, in a two-week intensive programme, called How to Change the World, where interdisciplinary teams address 'wicked' problems within major global challenges such as sustainable energy or water provision [28].

Similarly, Purdue University, has adapted to the changing demands from engineering professionals by offering more than 25 different engineering programmes. For instance, a concentration in "Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies (IDES) and Multidisciplinary Engineering (MDE)" can encompass a specialisation in: acoustical engineering, engineering management, general engineering, international engineering studies, pre-professional (law, medicine, etc.) engineering, theatre engineering studies and visual design engineering. Open and tailored programmes such as these demarcate the new work engineers are preparing for, which is likewise highly specialised, comprehensive and holistic. The new structures encourage students to approach engineering as their vocation from the start of their studies; professionalisation into the field is therefore initiated from day-one.

Of the more recent developments, the inception of NEET or New Engineering Education Transformation at MIT is perhaps one of the most significant. Launched in 2017, this cross-departmental endeavour with a focus on integrative, projectcentric learning, creates a series of 'threads' in the curriculum linking taught modules – some new but many existing – to projects framed around the new machines of the 21st Century. Advanced Materials Machines, Autonomous Machines, Digital Cities, Living Machines and renewable energy machines. This provides a model similar to that of the IEP at UCL where a curriculum transformation is brought about by augmenting elements of the traditional programmes through the introduction of cross cutting and interdisciplinary elements [55].

Although we are not widely seeing the impact of the 4th and 5th Industrial revolutions on universities, the potential implications are already reverberating across the majority of industry sectors. Discussions typically take the form of short-term opportunities, long terms challenges but almost always conclude with concern that a skills shortage will ultimately be a limiting factor in the pace of progress. It is clear that 4IR will impact in some way in all areas of life and business. Some, manufacturing for example, are naturally closest to the cutting edge of innovation where 3D and additive printing have been evolving for some time and in certain areas are already reaching maturity [37]. In service sectors, the availability of large datasets and rich potential of data mining are opening up vast new possibility. Although accusations of a wild west environment were lack of regulation and lack of understanding of the implications of these new technologies from law makers abound. Further into the future whole new sectors are being imagined that simply do not exist today. As a research field, quantum engineering blossomed in the last decade with prediction of its emergence as a mainstream technology in the next 10 to 20 years. This begs the questions; What will the Quantum Computing Engineering of 2035 look like? What skills and competencies will they need in this new role?

Many in each of these specialisms are already starting to address these questions. However, one common thread is emerging. The skills, knowledge and competencies no longer find neatly into the disciplinary boxes that we have used to categorise

engineering for the past hundred years. These new engineering graduates will need to be interdisciplinary in ways we have not imagined in the past.
