Beyond Employer Engagement: How to Meaningfully Involve Industry in Identifying a Skills Mismatch and Aligning Curricula for Entry-level Positions

The demand for workers in a changing world of work is continuously evolving. More than ever, schools and employment programs need to be able to detect skills needs from industry in an iterative fashion to ensure they are preparing young people for the jobs of today and the future. Businesses have an important role to play in this process and are often engaged through participation in advisory committees or offering internships/apprenticeships. However, there are limited frameworks that allow for meaningful engagement of companies in objective analysis of their entry-level skills needs that direct the focus of curriculum development. This presentation showcases one such framework and highlight how it helped align TVET high school degree programs in Mexico to the workforce demands of two important sectors for Generation 2030: logistics and technology.