Bridging the Gap between IT Graduate Profiles and Job Requirements: A Work in Progress

The mismatch between education and job market is a growing phenomenon. The information technology (IT) industry is no exception to this issue. Amidst growing demand of skilled IT graduates, higher education institutions are often not responsive to the needs of the job market. This study is designed to explore the gap between IT education and IT job requirements. Using grounded theory, this study systematically maps the demand of IT graduates in the job market to IT graduate profiles of higher education institutions. This study also evaluates IT graduate profiles against IT certification schemes. The results indicate that mismatch may materialize if higher education institutions do not respond quickly to workforce trends. In the case of this study, the mismatch is evidenced by the emergence of new skill sets such as user experience design and digital marketing that were not fully supported by IT educational curricula. Other trends and implications are discussed.