Education Path: Student orientation based on the job market needs

• Main Authors: Rahhal, Ibrahim, Carley, Kathleen, Ismail, Kassou, Sbihi, Nada
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Data science; Engineering profession; higher education; job market analysis; occupations; Shape; Software; Student orientation; Text analysis; Text mining; Training
• ISSN: 2165-9567
• DOI: 10.1109/EDUCON52537.2022.9766771

Weak student orientation for university students can create several problems such as skill mismatch and a high rate of unemployment. Youth often choose education paths that do not qualify them for employment, mainly because they lack reliable information about job market needs. Despite this issue, no previous research has attempted to connect university curricula to up-to-date job market needs. Youth usually rely on information from their families and friends and sometimes go to career centers to meet with career counselors. However, the resources youth go to do not have an overview of the job market needs. Students need to be provided with information about the job market needs and be aware of universities' training that they can follow. This paper collects data from multiple sources such as job portals and universities websites to inform students about the best options for their future university training plans based on up-to-date job market needs for each occupation. In this study, we focus on the IT sector because it is the sector recruiting the most. We use machine learning algorithms to classify job ads into their corresponding occupation and then use text analysis techniques to extract requirements and skills from job ads. Furthermore, we connect jobs with universities training to build an orientation path using text analysis and the assistance of HR specialists. Our paper finds that the occupations related to programming are the most in-demand jobs for the IT sector and sometimes don't require years of experience. We also identified emerging occupations such as data scientists who doubled the number of job openings within a year. When comparing university curricula to our job market findings, we found a small mismatch between the university offerings and the number of job ads in some occupations. Based on the results, a Dashboard will be developed to help students choose a path that will lead them in having a job.