Perspective and Attitudes of Engineering Students Towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution: A Qualitative Study

Digital transformation of manufacturing and similar industrial processes and value-creation methods is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, also termed as “Industry 4.0”. “Industry 4.0” is defined as, “A term for the current trend in data interchange and automation in the industrial sector”. Both remote monitoring and tracking are possible with the Industrial Internet of Things. A significant change has been observed in manufacturing sector as a result of this digitized automation. In April 2021, a qualitative research was conducted through a self-developed interview schedule with the main objective to explore the perception of engineering students towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The data collection tool was used to assess the concept and perception towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution with samples aged 18–23 years, from the Engineering Diploma (50 students) and the Engineering Degree (50 students) colleges of Uttar Pradesh, India. Results were derived from the content analysis of the respondents’ responses under three major parts – perception, attitudes, and viewpoints of engineering students towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The study concluded that although the Fourth Industrial Revolution is still at a developmental stage in India, it is having a major positive impact on society and its well-being as expressed by the Engineering Degree students. On the other hand, Engineering Diploma students were not sure about the effectiveness and efficiency of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.