Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network 2023-2024

25 Action: The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Serbia designed the Master 4.0 Program that is being funded by the Ministry of Education of the Government of Serbia. Based on a needs assessment, a collaboration was established with the Ministry of Education to develop the curriculum. Next steps: The centre is working to ensure long-term implementation of the planned curriculum and quality control of knowledge outcomes for students, and to grow the number of new experts in the bioinformatics market. There are plans for expanding the programme to other universities in Serbia for larger groups, securing financing for another five years, and strengthening the collaboration between the academic and private sectors. Result: Three consortia in Serbia have received funding for the Master 4.0 in Bioinformatics. What sets apart the Master 4.0 Program is the involvement of the business sector in the educational process. The three consortia included 23 companies from Serbia’s biotechnology ecosystem. These provide 75 new positions for students for master’s studies, of which 30 positions are financed from the government’s budget. Serbia Context: Until 2024, there was no formal education in bioinformatics in Serbia. While a shift began in 2024, there was still no master’s degree education for bioinformaticians. To make the Serbian academic and business communities competitive in biotechnology and genomics, new educational programmes in bioinformatics were needed. The focus of this year’s public call for the Master’s program is bioinformatics, as it is truly important to equip young people with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to perform jobs of the future, which is especially significant in light of the construction and development of the BIO4 Campus [the region’s first bioinformatics hub]. Slavica Đukić-Dejanović Minister of Education, Republic of Serbia Case study 9: Master’s programme