The book focuses on the issue of adapting the higher education system to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Lifelong learning is suggested as a prospective path for this adaptation. The book includes a discussion of empirical experience and the forms of lifelong learning in Central Asia. The book also explains the essence, discusses practical experience, and offers practical recommendations for improving the management of the development of Educational Technology (EdTech) and higher education 4.0 in the conditions of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Central Asia. The book explains the impact of the innovative economy and smart regulation of education on lifelong learning in Central Asia. It offers a competency-based approach and applied educational technologies for lifelong learning in the Central Asian countries.

The book’s novelty lies in its comprehensive exploration and detailed discussion of the unique experience of developing lifelong learning in Central Asia. The scientific and practical value of the book also lies in its proposal of a new paradigm for developing higher education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In this new paradigm, the higher education system emerged as the driving force of the Fourth Industrial Revolution through establishing Universities 4.0 and the intensified development of EdTech. The primary target audience of this book consists of scholars studying higher education issues. For them, the book reevaluates the concept of lifelong learning in the contemporary context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Autorentext

Prof. Dr. Elena G. Popkova, Doctor of Economics, is the Founder and President of the Institute of Scientific Communications (Volgograd, Russia), a leading researcher of the Center for applied research of the chair "Economic Policy and Public-Private Partnership" of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), Moscow, Russia. She is the author of more than 150 publications in Scopus (h-index: 31). She is also editor of more than 50 books and a large number of special issues of international peer-reviewed scientific journals. She is a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies and the International Journal for Quality Research. She is the Recipient of Highly Commended Paper Award for the journal On the Horizon for 2020 (Emerald). She is Honoured worker of science and high technologies of the Russian Federation and Honoured professor of Osh State University (Osh, Kyrgyzstan). She is among Scopus top 2% of most-cited scholars of the world in 2019-2021.