Plan and Develop Advanced Knowledge and Skills for Future Industrial Employees in the Field of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Edge Computing

Abstract

Knowledge and skills in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Edge Computing (EC) are more and more important for industry. Therefore, it is crucial to know what current students and future employees can offer to the industry. University students develop their knowledge and skills to support the industry in implementing modern technologies in the future. It can be expected that the first source of information for students will be lectures and other activities at the university. However, they may obtain knowledge from other sources. This article presents the results of research conducted among students assessing their own knowledge and skills in the field of IoT, AI, and EC. The research was preceded by an analysis of curricula at selected universities in terms of topics related to AI, IoT, and EC. Based on the results of the analysis, survey questions were prepared. The developed questionnaire was made available to students. The research sample for the survey participants was 563 students. The results obtained were analyzed. The results of the analysis show which issues are better known to students and which are worse. The information presented in this paper can be a source of information for the industry that can assess the competences that are or will be available on the labor market in the near future. Additionally, universities can obtain information on the areas in which there are competency gaps and which methods of teaching AI, IoT, and EC are better perceived by students.

Role of Academics in Transferring Knowledge and Skills on Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Edge Computing

“…In [ 32 ], Paśko et al surveyed 563 students mainly from European countries about their knowledge and skills in the area of IoT, AI, and EC. The authors concluded that students are familiar with AI technologies while they have a lack of education in the field of EC.…”

“…However, many studies on Industry 4.0 readiness from a higher education perspective come from non-EU countries [ 34 , 35 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. Those assessing in Europe the level of preparedness of students for I4.0 may need a broader European view, as they focus on individual countries such as Germany [ 29 , 30 ] and Italy [ 31 ] or cover only a few European countries [ 32 ]. Moreover, such studies may need updating since, in the meantime, the requested skills and university programs may have been changed.…”

“…Moreover, such studies may need updating since, in the meantime, the requested skills and university programs may have been changed. Finally, survey-based studies have been carried out primarily on students [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 39 ], often leaving out the role of teachers and instructors (with the exceptions of [ 35 , 40 ]) and what they think of the current courses they teach, and if these courses are providing a good 4.0 training to their students that they can become the next workforce in the industry. Therefore, in this study, we propose a perspective on the current state of European universities courses related to the I4.0 context and its technologies and how teachers think university courses need to be upgraded.…”

“…From this document, it can be inferred that it is universities’ responsibility to (1) train a new generation of experts and (2) to increase the collective knowledge while sustaining the European educational offer by providing students and companies with training materials and strategies regularly updated. Additionally, according to the literature, the knowledge distribution of Industry 4.0 technologies (i.e., AI, IoT, and Edge Computing) around Europe is uneven [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. This work aims to fight these circumstances by providing updated evidence of this situation nowadays in some regions of Europe and identifying those Industry 4.0 areas of the curricula that shall be upgraded.…”

Industrial Needs in the Fields of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Edge Computing

“…In work [28], the authors assess topics included in the university curricula that may facilitate the implementation of Industry 4.0 solutions. Moreover, the work [29] presents how future employees (students) assess their own competencies in this area.…”