Map My Future: An Integrated Framework Using Data Analytics to Enhance the Employability and Entrepreneurship of Information Technology Graduates

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Department of Computer Science and Information Technology, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.

Enhancing their career prospects is one of the main motivations for students to pursue a university degree. However, there are several critical gaps in the current approaches to prepare graduates for the world of work. In this thesis, these critical gaps are identified, primarily from the perspective of the students and systematic models and practical tools to enhance the employability and entrepreneurship of information technology graduates are provided. This research proposes a career-oriented framework called Map My Future to provide a structured pathway for students from a university entry point to the exit point in order to prepare them for their future careers. The framework consists of three models, namely: Graduate Employability Model, Graduate Entrepreneurial Intention Model and Graduate Entrepreneurial Success Prediction Model. The first is a practical model of employability which connects the university curriculum with the labour market by analysing the skills developed from academia with the skillsets required by industry. The second is an informed entrepreneurial intention model which connects the different elements in the university context to stimulate entrepreneurship. The third model enhances students’ understanding of the uncertainties in the environment which can affect the success of a firm and provides a success prediction technique to evaluate opportunities in an uncertain environment. In addition to proposing a conceptual framework, this research develops practical software applications using information retrieval and data analytics techniques incorporating the particular context of the university environment. Statistical analysis using surveys and performance matrix methods were employed to evaluate these models and applications. The results of this research show that the models have a significantly positive impact on enhancing graduate employability and entrepreneurship. The effective practices proposed in this study will better prepare future ready graduates. The research contributes to the existing literature and debate on methods to enhance graduates’ career prospects.