THE IMPACT OF INDUSTRY 4.0 ON POSTGRADUATE INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN GERMANY

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the concept of Industry 4.0 within the context of industrial management education at the HTW Berlin, Germany. First, the relevant constituent elements of the Industry 4.0 are identified in literature. Then, their relevance to the employment of industrial management graduates is evaluated using a questionnaire survey (n = 66) among the graduates of the postgraduate programme Master of Business Administration & Engineering (MBA&E) at the HTW Berlin. The survey underlines the importance of the Industry 4.0 concept (mean importance of 4.06 on a scale from 1 (unimportant) to 5 (very important)). In addition, the constituent elements of Industry 4.0 are rated for their relative importance. On the basis of the findings, the recommendation is made to develop a dedicated course for delivering general Industry 4.0 understanding; as well as to insert specific technical content and Industry 4.0 related generic skills and management competencies in relevant modules across the programme's curriculum.