The career landscape for fresh college graduates has been evolving at a rapid pace year after year. Present-day students are learning alongside Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. When it comes to the tech industry, again, the new roles are centred around data.

Data-driven jobs are the most sought-after careers by fresh graduates. Hence, it makes sense for educational institutions to reorient their curriculum targeting placements, ensuring that the graduates learn the in-demand hard skills and are industry-ready once they graduate.

How to Develop a Job-Oriented Curriculum for College Students

According to a  popular survey, the following skills are amongst the top ten in-demand hard skills.

• Blockchain
• Cloud Computing
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• UX Design
• Scientific Computing

Now, software engineering and tech course students need a different approach than the traditional one to excel in these skills. Here are some tips as to how colleges can shape their curriculum in sync with the in-demand skills and help their students to be placement-ready:

1. Focus on the In-Demand Industry Skills: 

Many colleges have certificate courses or degree programs centred around these vital skills that are in demand in the market. But even full-time bachelor’s or master’s courses need to be oriented towards these industry skills. This ensures students resonate with what the leading companies are looking for.

2. Form Industry-Academia Partnerships:

For some of the highly sought-after skills in the tech industry, it may be difficult for students to have practical hands-on experience with those technologies before entering the industry. Therefore, strong participation between academia and the industry will help educate students better and make them well-prepared to face the industry. Such industry-academia affiliates can happen in various forms:

Designing a curriculum where industries contribute to deciding the courses to be offered in the core and elective segments.

Industry Electives where popular industries design the courses as per their needs and offer them as electives to higher year students or upload them in the students portal. Students can choose these courses and take the qualifying exams.

Seminars and workshops can be conducted where industries come to the campus and deliver talks on the latest trends.

Some industries also deliver newsletters to registered students at regular intervals. These newsletters contain topics on the latest trends in the industry.

3. Certification Exams

Colleges can encourage students to take certification exams from leading companies by collaborating with such companies. For instance, in New York, Amazon has partnered with many colleges to offer students certification courses on cloud computing. As a result, these students also get hands-on training with Amazon Web Services, a skill in demand. Likewise, colleges can partner with companies for such in-demand courses and give students free credits on completion.

4. Centres of Excellence:

Colleges can also open centres of excellence partnering with companies. Centres of excellence are facilities created by the college (by way of tie-up with industries) that have the necessary infrastructure to enhance the skill set of the students. Students can also get an opportunity to work with the company after completing training programs in these centres of excellence.

5. Include Vital Courses Across all Levels of General Education:

Certain general education classes (classes that will help the students hone their soft skills and learn more aspects in areas like humanities and social sciences) are vital for giving the graduates a well-rounded education. However, colleges and universities can rethink such general education classes and try to include more courses on data and problem-solving as well as logical reasoning skills. This reorientation will help graduates be more prepared to face interviews and be job-ready when they graduate.

In addition to the above, colleges can develop a more project-based curriculum and offer certificate courses or short-term crash courses to help students tackle interviews.

The College-Industry Scenario

While one can say that the college curriculum should be linked to meet in-demand skills, doing so is not an easy task. So let’s take a look at the present scenario and see how colleges can better shape their curriculum.

Companies are eager to hire college graduates with skill sets that align with the rapidly growing job roles. While many universities offer various courses that focus on popular areas like data and other genres, some of these colleges are still unsure how to align their curriculum to the industry’s needs.

If the college curriculum is not synced correctly with the latest skills and technologies, then graduates have to invest extra time and effort in learning those additional skills. A 2019 survey report states that graduates are adding additional skills focused on data post their graduation.

The lag between the industry and college curricula can be bridged by constantly updating the course curriculum to meet industry requirements rather than a one-time up-gradation.

Another option is partnering with independent talent training companies that offer job-oriented courses and ensure the placements of students.

CodeQuotient is one of the premier training partners that address the industry-academia gap and makes the students industry-ready. This is achieved by its industry-integrated courses that are constantly updated and thus guarantee every student’s employment.

The entire curriculum is well-planned and aligned to meet the industry requirements. Its unique project-based learning system ensures students get hands-on experience in real industry scenarios and keep themselves abreast with industry requirements. Its job-oriented skill training helps students showcase their projects to employers and take the lead in securing a job.

CodeQuotient also partners with educational institutions in training their students and even taking care of placements. Contact us to know more.