Appraising Education 4.0 in Nigeria’s Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study of Built Environment Programmes

In the era of digitalisation, the construction industry is fast embracing digital technology, which evolved from Industry 4.0 (fourth industrial revolution [4IR]). Built environment programmes (BEPs) are expected to meet the needs of the digitalisation era via Education 4.0. Education 4.0 aims to transform education’s future with diverse digital automation and innovative paedagogical procedures. Studies concerning Education 4.0 in Nigeria’s BEPs are scarce. Hence, this study aims to appraise Education 4.0 and investigate the perceived issues facing implementing Education 4.0 in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), using BEPs as a case study. The findings intend to improve Education 4.0 implementation practices in BEPs. Data were sourced from 40 participants across Nigeria for better coverage and representation via a semi-structured interview approach. The participants were knowledgeable about Education 4.0 and Nigeria’s BEPs. This study adopted a thematic analysis of the virtually collected data and presented the findings in themes. This study shows that Education 4.0 implementation in Nigeria’s BEPs is lax and should be overhauled to improve achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4)—quality education—and other related SDGs. The findings reveal that improved Education 4.0 can enhance the achievement of SDG 4. The findings cluster the perceived 18 hindrances facing Education 4.0 implementation into three main groups. Also, the findings proffer feasible measures to improve Education 4.0 implementation in Nigeria’s HEIs, using BEPs as a case study, via improved transformative competencies, technological advancement, innovative paedagogical procedures, and stakeholders’ collaboration to improve achieving SDG 4. The proposed framework could assist in creating new values and transforming the students’ BEP competencies via stakeholder collaboration and Education 4.0 for the private sector (future talents’ beneficiary), thus fostering their employability.