A Conceptual Model for Social Media Enabled Intelligent Higher Education in the Era of Industry 4.0: Aligned with Oman Vision 2040

Abstract

The Industry 4.0 brings about technological revolutions in the higher education system to create an equitable and digitally enabled higher education system. However, in the case of Oman, several barriers to a fair and technology-driven education system exist, such as geographical barriers. This study proposes a conceptual model for the creation of a social media enabled and equitable and fourth industry revolution-based technology-enabled higher education system in Oman, incorporating Education 4.0. The methodology for the research was qualitative content analysis of academic literature on the technologically driven higher education system based on the triple helix model, Industry 4.0, and Oman Vision 2040. From the data analysis, four main domains were identified, which are training, research, technology, and policy. Moreover, five opportunities for the technologically driven higher education system were identified, which are adaptive personalized remote learning, job creation, global competitiveness, financial sustainability, and digitization of government services.  The conceptual model is proposed by mapping domains with opportunities within an intelligent collaborative educational ecosystem grounded in Industry 4.0 capabilities.