Perceptions on the fourth Industrial revolution and agricultural economics - the case of the University of Pretoria alumni

Abstract

Tertiary education is servicing a rapidly changing labour market which is driven by the digital revolution. Big data is prefigured as the raw material of the digital revolution and its resulting concepts such as automation and artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and robotics which are reshaping the nature of the workforce in every sector of the economy. The digital revolution concepts are increasingly assumed that it will augment human abilities by assisting human beings to reduce tedious and monotonous tasks, thereby allowing human beings to spend more time on creative endeavours. On the other hand, the same innovations will result in job losses. This set of circumstances warrants a tracer study into assessing if the programme supply is speaking to market demand so as to advise curriculum review. The impact that big data, automation and artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and robotics have on the agricultural economics profession is not yet known and more so how much of it are the graduates exposed to in their current jobs. This study, therefore, provided some insight into the impacts of some of the digital revolution concepts by capturing the perceptions of the University of Pretoria alumni. Out of a total of 165 graduates, from an undergraduate programme in Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria, 50 respondents completed the on-line questionnaire. The results obtained indicated that a large proportion of the graduates, 82%, are gainfully employed with the majority employed in the agriculture and food sector. The graduates are proficient with most of the skills expected of agricultural economists but that they needed improvements in computer programming skills, advanced IT and analytical skills which are rendered as very essential skills for the digital revolution labour market. To determine the familiarity of the graduates with general concepts related to the digital revolution, their familiarity score was calculated. The scores ranged from 13 to 23, and the average score was 17.5 which was more skewed towards the low familiarity. Using familiarity as a proxy for the adoption of new technologies, the results suggested that the graduates are not adept at using new digital technologies hence negatively affecting their adoption. To identify the key determinants of propensity to adopt to new digital technologies, years of experience and undergraduate academic performance were considered. Neither academic performance nor years of professional experience were statistically significant in explaining the propensity to adopt new technologies. Having established that none of the variables of interest was statistically significant and could be used to determine the graduates’ aptitude to adopt new technologies, the graduates’ perceived impacts were considered. The graduates perceive an increased prevalence of automation, big data, artificial intelligence, robotics and blockchain technologies in their current jobs as years ensue. The popular impact perceived as a result of the application of robotics and artificial intelligence is employment loss. Big data and automation are commonly perceived to result in making work easier. Application of blockchain technology is perceived as having no impact on the nature of jobs by most of the graduates.