High school graduates are turning to fields with better job prospects as interest in traditional profiles fades

As they wait for the moment to define their higher education study preferences, high school graduates are increasingly linking their choices to fields that offer greater employment opportunities.

According to the director of the Albanian Academic Network, Arjan Xhelaj, young people themselves are relying on employment data and trends from previous years in order to choose programs with better prospects.

“In the end, these graduates are expected to gain the knowledge demanded by the labor market, making it possible for them to find work quickly. From the moment they begin researching on the U-Albania platform, graduates also reorient themselves based on labor market demands and past trends, so they can steer toward fields that are absorbed more quickly by the market,” said Arjan Xhelaj, director of the Albanian Academic Network.

Based on trends in recent years, the highest demand is for information technology, engineering and medical science programs. On the other hand, traditional fields such as economics, law and other areas of the social sciences continue to be chosen, but they no longer attract the same level of interest.

“The new generation has oriented itself toward ICT, engineering and technical fields. It is less oriented toward classic fields, not because they have lost their attention, since the market will still need traditional fields such as economics, law or others, but to some extent interest has declined compared with the early years of democracy. Foreign languages as well are less in focus, since graduates are learning them already in high school and they are becoming an integral part of their studies.

Fields sought by the domestic market are technology, engineering, but also medical sciences and nursing. This is true both in the domestic market and because of demand from the European market,” Xhelaj added.

Xhelaj also emphasizes that higher education institutions review their study programs almost every year, adapting them more closely to market needs and making them more flexible.