Keynote 3 - Ghita Mezzour

Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence for Improved Youth Employability in Morocco 

Abstract: The mismatch between higher education and the job market creates major social, political, and economical problems in many countries. Every year, many graduates are unable to find jobs. The resulting youth unemployment causes major social and political tensions. Paradoxically, at the same time, employers are unable to find candidates with the required skills. Such skill shortage results in reduced competitiveness and missed economic opportunities in these countries.

To reduce skill mismatch, it is important for higher education institutions to identify job market needs and to adapt their curricula to such needs. In this project, we collect and analyze job ads from 10+ top Moroccan recruitment websites to identify job market needs and then compare these needs to university curricula. We also examine collaborations and information exchange among employment stakeholders through surveys and analysis of traditional and social media. Our project develops many novel Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques to analyze unstructured and semi-structured text. Our project has attracted wide interest from various employment stakeholders in Morocco and has already been used to improve university curricula.