EDUCATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND ADAPTATION TO THE STANDARDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE FUTURE

Abstract

he world’s leading universities are in search of new models and are actively rethinking their missions, developing and implementing new technological approaches to learning. Due to the fact that these changes are related to all the main functions that the modern university is expected to perform in different countries, one can speak of a global transformation in higher education. Against this backdrop, the challenge of how to prepare students for life in the age of artificial intelligence, but above all for the professions of the future, is on the agenda. This gives rise to a number of questions to which those employed in the academic sphere in Bulgaria must find an answer as soon as possible, namely: Do the educational system and curricula meet the requirements of Industry 4.0? How to reconstruct the learning process so that we are adequate to the requirements of the new time? How to educate personnel for the needs of Industry 4.0?
In search of an answer to these questions, the observations show that in the field of higher education, including in Bulgaria, dynamic changes are being observed in terms of its role in the economy and in the society of knowledge, the principles and methods of work, the organization and management. Worldwide, universities are exploring and experimenting with new organizational models, reformatting their missions, trying to transcend traditional functions and institutional forms, by developing and introducing new technological approaches to learning. Due to the fact that these changes are related to all the main functions that the modern university is expected to perform in different countries, one can speak of a global transformation in higher education. Against this backdrop, the challenge is how to prepare students for life in the age of artificial intelligence, but above all for the professions of the future? The aim of the present development is to present the transformation towards the application of technologies and new pedagogical approaches, tailored to the specific needs of each student in the course of his preparation for professional realization. Among them are cloud technologies, the flipped classroom, project-based and problem-based learning.