Priority Roles of Stakeholders for Overcoming the Barriers to Implementing Education 4.0: An Integrated Fermatean Fuzzy Entropy-Based CRITIC-CODAS-SORT Approach

Abstract

This work defines various stakeholder roles (or strategies) to overcome the barriers to implementing Education 4.0 (EDUC4), which were recently identified in the domain literature. The stakeholder roles are evaluated against these barriers, and such evaluation is structured as a multicriteria sorting problem. To this end, an integrated entropy-based CRITIC-CODAS-SORT under a Fermatean fuzzy (FF) environment addresses epistemic uncertainties inherent in decision-making. The FF CRITIC assigns the priority weights of the barriers, while the FF CODAS-SORT determines the high-priority stakeholder roles. A case of an HEI evaluating 57 possible roles of 5 stakeholders is demonstrated here. Findings suggest the lack of collaboration, apprehensive stakeholders, cybersecurity threats, health issues, and cost as crucial barriers to the HEI. The sorting process yields 13 high-priority roles, encompassing those within the influence of the government (i.e., cybersecurity awareness, allocation of necessary funds, designing more aligned curricula, and streamlining the basic education agenda), university management (i.e., investing in efficient technologies and forging extensive stakeholder collaboration), human resource function (i.e., implementing periodic skills training for educators), and educators (i.e., engaging in continuous learning about cybersecurity threats, integrating awareness of applicable laws against cyberbullying, devising alternative cost-efficient teaching strategies, taking part in initiatives to improve curricula, efficient preparation of learning materials, and participating in skills development initiatives). Various managerial insights are offered as inputs to the design of initiatives in EDUC4 implementation.