Collaborative Networks and Sustainability in Education 4.0: An Approach to Achieve Complex Thinking Competencies in Higher Education

Abstract

Today, collaborative networks are considered one of the critical elements that shape Education 4.0 in higher education. They are necessary to connect, cooperate, and collaborate with key external stakeholders during training and co-creation processes. Students use them to be immersed in real-world scenarios with complex environments. Consequently, Higher Education Institutions are relevant and critical in promoting and designing these collaborations where students can train and acquire desirable competencies. In this work, the competencies for complex thinking have been adopted in students’ training to include specific transversal and disciplinary competencies and encourage the development of sustainable systems. Therefore, key stakeholders must foster sustainability in design processes through collaborative networks. We present two case studies involving collaborative networks and sustainability in this work.