Job requirements on the labour market

The issue of mismatch on the job market has plagued Mauritius for years. Fresh graduates being the most affected. The authorities have been trying for years to solve the issue through the introduction of measures targeting youth unemployment.

On one side, the country has thousands of young graduates desperately looking for a job or one which best suits their skills, and on the other hand, employers have vacancies which they are unable to fill despite the high number of applicants. The problem is that the academic field of studies of graduates does not necessarily match the competencies required on the job market.

The issue has taken years in the making. The reasons are that any secondary school student has to choose his future field of study in Form 3 and for the next four years until he finishes college, he will be stuck in with the combination of subjects (science, finance, arts, or humanities) not knowing what the demand for this skill-set will be on the job market. Once he completes university, seven years would have elapsed since the student chose his subjects. Therefore, the skills mismatch problem is not solely due to university level studies, it has taken years in the making and to redress it, the competent authorities will have to tackle the issue at Form 3 level, which will is now known as Grade 9.

The Tertiary Education Commission has issued a List of Indicative Priority Fields of Study, the latest issue of which was for the years 2014-2015. TEC says that the availability of a critical mass of professionals in relevant disciplines, in support of existing as well as emerging economic sectors, is pertinent for ensuring the smooth and sustained growth and development of the Mauritian economy. “In this perspective, effective human resource planning is deemed critical to ascertain that the output of the tertiary education sector matches the needs of employers and that of the economy.”

The List of Indicative Priority Fields of Study (LIPFS) is an outcome of human resource planning. It has been prepared taking into account the priority needs of the country for high-level human resources by assessing employers’ demand for graduates by discipline as well as the evolution of the labour market with regard to the potential supply of graduates in the short to medium term; the objective being to minimise mismatch in the economy by ensuring that the demand for and the supply of graduates are well balanced.

The LIPFS acts as a guide to prospective higher education students in their choice of fields of study. It is intended to assist them to make informed decisions so that after their graduation they hold reasonably good prospect for employment in fields in which they have been trained, in line with the priority needs of the country.

Top jobs on the market 

• Web developer
• E-Reputation Specialist/ Digital Marketing Specialist
• Financial analyst
• Talent Acquisition Management
• Food and Beverages Management
• Project management/ Complexe management / Facilitaty management
• SEM Specialist
• Community Manager
• Digital Marketer
• Accountant 
• Bankers
• Compliance Officers
• Trust Accountant
• HR Coordinator
• Sales and Marketing
• Offshore (Client Accountant, Fund Administrator, Company Administrators, Manager – B&D, etc.)
• Business development management
• Civil Engineers
• Software developers 

UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL

1. Education 

• Teacher Training and Education Science
• Educational Psychology
• Special Needs Education
• Pedagogy & Curriculum 

2. Humanities and Arts

(a) Arts 

• Creative Arts
• Design and Technology
• Multimedia Technology and Design
• Theatre Arts/ Film Production 

(b) Humanities

• Languages -Arabic, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Mandarin (Teaching)
• Translation Studies

3. Social Sciences, Business and Law 

• Entrepreneurship Management
• Fund/ Trust Management
• Litigation, Arbitration, Mediation
• Trust Law
• Logistics/Supply Chain Management
• Real Estate/Property Financing and Management 

4. Science

(a) Life Sciences 

• Bio-Informatics
• Biotechnology
• Marine Sciences
• Microbiology
• Nanotechnology
• Pharmacy/ Pharmaceutical Sciences 

(b) Physical Sciences 

• Geomatics
• Hydrology
• Oceanography
• Ocean Management Sciences and Engineering
• Legal Metrology 

(c) Computing 

• E-Commerce/ E-Marketing
• Mobile Application Development
• Network Engineering
• IT with Forensics- Cyber Law and Cyber Crime
• Software Development/Engineering
• Systems Engineering
• Web Design 

5. Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction 

• Engineering and Engineering Trades
• Civil Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Electronic Engineering
• Hydrology/ Water Resource
• Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering
• Marine/ Coastal/Offshore Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Product Design Technology
• Quantity Surveying
• Renewable Energy Engineering
• Structural Engineering
• Telecommunication Engineering
• Traffic/Transportation Engineering
• Thermal Engineering 

(b) Manufacturing and processing 

• Fiber Science/ Apparel Design
• Product Design Technology
• Textile Science and Technology 

(c) Architecture and Building 

• Architecture
• Green Architecture
• Interior Design and Decoration
• Landscape Architecture 

6. Agriculture 

• Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery
• Aquaculture
• Bio-security/ Food Safety
• Veterinary Medicine/ Sciences 

7. Health and Welfare 

• Food and Nutrition (Teaching)
• Genetic Studies
• Podiatry
• Epidemiology
• Bio-medical Engineering
• Radio therapy
• Dental Mechanics/ Prosthesis
• Dental Technician (Equipment/ Maintenance)
• Nursing with special reference to: Intensive Care, Anesthesiology, Primary Care, Midwifery. 

8. Services: Environmental Protection 

• Disaster Management
• Energy/Resource/Sustainable Management
• Energy Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
• Ocean Disaster Prevention/Protection

POSTGRADUATE LEVEL

• Cloud Computing
• Disaster Recovery
• Network Engineering/ Network Security
• IT Governance
• System Integration Engineering

The LIPFS is also used as a reference document for the award of scholarships as well as for the introduction of new programmes and capacity building at the tertiary level.