Abstract:

The ongoing changes in universities are considered in the logic of socio-economic development phases – as an aspect of the post-industrial transition and next transition to “cognitive society”.

The aspects of phase transition are:
1) transformation of activity systems (from industrial systems to post-industrial and then to cognitive ones);
2) transition of economy to the post-economy, the “economy of common good”;
3) transformation of communications to “universal commutability”;
4) transformation of culture and human’s attitude to culture;
5) transformation of sociality (communities, relations, institutes);
6) transformation of human (identity, activity, consciousness).

The transition to “cognitive society” includes:
1) expansion of activity sectors related to the production of knowledge, technologies and innovations, new meanings, images and lifestyles;
2) enhancement of the value of an intellectual component within the production processes;
3) expanded access to knowledge and inclusion in the production of knowledge and innovations for an unprecedented wide range of people;
4) “cognitivization” of economy and society – enrichment of activity and leisure with knowledge;
5) transformation of collective intelligence into the key productive force of society;
6) formation of a technological base for the “cognitive world” (achievements of the digital revolution).

Expansion of the range of cognitive technologies also occur. If earlier they were technologies for data processing and transfer, computer memory, artificial intelligence, computer-brain interfaces, in future these technology packages will be expanded by cognitive-humanities technologies. These technologies will make it possible to “exteriorize” human intellectual functions. They will provide the assembly and functioning of the collectively distributed intelligence, including configuration of knowledge (thinking), communications and activities.

Since the mentioned transformations occur, the university cannot remain the same. It cannot rely on the reproduction of the industrial systems of activity (corresponding professions), on economic relations, reproduction of culture, society and human with their previous (specific to the industrial phase) content.

The University of the Fourth generation will be open environment – a hub for a variety of communications, a node at the intersection of multiple networks – information, social, activity-related. These communications, research works and development projects involve not only professors and students, but also a wide range of external participants. We can say that the University of the Fourth Generation is an infrastructure platform for the deployment of a wide variety of search activities (research, project, development of new practices). For these activities the university offers itself as a platform to a variety of subjects (individual and institutional), provides opportunities for communication and navigation.

As collective intelligence becomes the key producer of knowledge, University 4.0. will be intended to “technologize”
1) thinking and communication of people;
2) creation of artificial intelligence and hybrid kinds of intelligence combining human and machine intelligence.

Keywords:

Universities, post-industrial transition, phase transformations, university in society, generations of universities, University 4.0.