Students’ subject choices ‘not matching up to workforce needs’

Employer demand in key areas of the economy is not matching up with the degrees students are taking, a report analysing trends in the UK, US, Canada and Australia has found.

In particular, appetite for business and engineering graduates outstrips the popularity of these degree courses in all four territories, according to findings by course-mapper StudyPortals and management consultancy Nous Group.

The analysis suggests universities in the “Big Four” study destinations need better partnerships with employers and “more deliberate demand generation” when it comes to encouraging learners into such areas.

Institutions must also accommodate the ability of artificial intelligence to “change skills within disciplines”, the report says, calling for universities to embed AI as a matter of priority in everything from marketing to health, rather than treating it as a narrow technological specialisation.

Despite a recent survey suggesting that students at some UK institutions feel they are taught “little or nothing” about the developing technology, the latest report finds that the US and the UK are leading the way on AI-related programmes outside computing.

The University as a Connector report is the second in a series focusing on how student demand relates to what industry is looking for, comparing web hits for courses and job listings on the StudyPortals platform.

It finds that some areas “central to national capability” are being overlooked by university-goers.

In all four countries, business and engineering show the most acute mismatch between student interest and employer demand.

But there are other gaps, too – with the UK witnessing a need for education workers larger than student interest in the field, a gap that has only widened between 2022 and 2025.

Meanwhile, the UK faces “oversupply pressure” in the likes of biological sciences, IT and physical sciences, where student interest has leapt ahead of employer demand.

“In the context of ongoing concern about student debt in the United Kingdom, these mismatches may add to further scrutiny of whether higher education is delivering sufficient value for students,” the report notes.

In the US, the same is true of nursing and health sciences. “Around 189,000 registered nurse openings are projected every year over the coming decade,” it states of the American picture, but “student interest has remained comparatively flat”.

“These are not marginal fields. They are large workforce pipelines where demand is growing faster than student interest.”

Across all countries, disciplines where student interest surpasses industry demand include environment and conservation studies, psychology and the visual and performing arts.

The report urges universities to encourage students into fields necessary for national progress and to create “more credible employment pathways” in areas where student interest is high but employer demand is weak.

Besides focusing on immediate needs within home countries, the report also advises universities to understand where their international students will go after completing their degree, and to prepare them with the skills necessary for the labour market they will enter.

On share of “staying graduates”, the UK ranks the lowest of the four countries – just 40 per cent of international students remain in the UK versus 66 per cent in Canada.

Nous Group’s global higher education lead Zac Ashkanasy said the findings showed universities could not rely on current student demand to guide future course offerings and investment.

“Universities face difficult choices about where to grow, where to protect capacity, and where to reshape their programmes,” he said. “Those decisions need to be informed by where workforce demand is heading, not only by what prospective students want to study today.

“The most concerning gaps are appearing in fields that are central to national capability.”

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com