Navigating the Digital Transformation: Key Components of Management Readiness for Education 4.0 in Technical Universities

Technical universities also play an essential role in preparing graduates with the skills necessary to be able to succeed in the changing job market in Industry 4.0. To successfully implement Education 4.0 (E4.0) in these institutions, management teams must be completely ready. Although the necessity of this shift is undisputable, the existing literature does not provide a detailed model of the concept of management readiness, in particular with reference to developing economies like Ghana. The main aim of the paper is to establish the main elements of management preparedness towards E4.0 at technical universities. The research took a qualitative phenomenological design, where eight international professionals in E4.0, innovating laboratories, technical education policy, and teaching at higher education were in-depth interviewed in Ghana, India, and the USA. The data analysis followed a thematic analysis to reveal seven fundamental components to management readiness: adaptive strategic leadership; E4.0 infrastructure; E4.0 competence; dynamic curriculum; support for faculty and students; and strategic financial management. This study adds a new comprehensive framework that goes beyond the identification of obstacles to delineating effective domains of preparedness. The results provide a strategic route that university leaders, researchers and policymakers can use to navigate the digital transformation in a way that can result in a sustainable success and institutional agility amidst Industry 4.0.