Understanding the Skills Gap between Higher Education Institutions and the Software Engineering Industry

TL;DR

This study analyzes the skills gap between UK higher education curricula and industry demands in software engineering, highlighting mismatches and suggesting curriculum improvements based on job market analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a novel web scraping and text analysis tool to map and compare skills in job postings and university curricula, revealing specific gaps.

Findings

Curricula emphasize Programming Languages and Database Management.

Industry demands Software Design and Planning in over 88% of job postings.

Significant underrepresentation of System Structures and Software Domains in curricula.

Abstract

In the rapidly evolving field of software engineering, the skills required of graduates entering the job market are constantly changing. Several studies have identified a gap between the skills taught in university curricula and those demanded by the software engineering industry. This chapter investigates the technical skill and expertise gap between higher education institutions (HEIs) and the UK software engineering industry by mapping job descriptions to the skills included in computer science degree programmes. A custom web scraping and text analysis tool, utilising fuzzy matching, was developed to extract and categorise skills from 300 job postings and undergraduate curricula from 30 UK universities. The analysis showed that the curricula place a strong emphasis on Programming Languages (18%) and Database Management (12.83%). In contrast, the industry s most frequently requested skill category is Software Design and Planning, which appears in approximately 88.68% of job descriptions, highlighting its critical importance. General Programming Language and System Structures also show strong demand, present in over 78.30% and 66.04% of postings, respectively. The mapping indicates that areas such as System Structures and Software Domains are significantly underrepresented in curricula, while Database Management and Compiler Design may be overemphasised. These insights can support HEIs in aligning their programmes with industry needs, supporting the preparation of graduates for dynamic careers in software engineering.