During certain points in the school year, it’s not surprising to see masses of seniors trooping to various university campuses for the purpose of taking their entrance exams.  After all, that’s a major step in being able to attend the college of their choice.

Picking a college to attend is only half of the decision, though.  The other half involves choosing an actual course to pursue.  With the myriad of choices available, how does one narrow things down to a more manageable list?

One strategy is to find out what most college courses people are into these days.  Don’t sweat it, as we’ve compiled a helpful little list for you.  Here they are, in no particular order.

Medical Courses:

The aging population of developed countries, medical tourism and the expansion plans of developing ones have given rise to the increase in demand of health care workers.  According to the Department of Labor and Employment, the manpower request for graduates of health related courses has been steadily increasing by 2.3% yearly.

Nursing: while there seems to be a temporary surplus of nurses in the country, it is expected that the demand for graduates of this course will continue to increase within the next 10 years.

The current top overseas destination of graduate nurses are Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Kuwait, United Kingdom, US, Qatar, Taiwan, Ireland and Trinidad and Tobago.

Specialized nurses [operating, ER, anesthetic, scrub, theatre, critical care/ICU, pediatric, cardiac, burn, pediatric, oncology, catheter, and trauma] will also be in demand in European countries like Belgium, Spain, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, and Denmark. Asian countries like Bruniei, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan on the other hand will need Dental Nurses, Chief Nurses, Head Nurses and Nurse Managers.
Other medical workers like Doctors, midwives and Physical therapists will also be in demand in countries like Poland, Belgium, Germany and Singapore.  A more detailed list of countries needing such personnel are listed below:

Medical Doctors: Australia, Korea and Saudi Arabia
Pharmacist, Orthodontists, Pediatric Technologists: Saudi Arabia and USA
Medical Technologists: Saudi Arabia, USA and New Zealand
Physical/Occupational Therapists: USA
Speech Therapists: USA
Optometrists: Oman
Male Dieticians: KSA, Qatar and UAE
Dental Lab/Dental Assts: KSA, Qatar and UAE
Medical Technicians (Bio‐Medical, Anesthetics, Laboratory, Respiratory, Emergency, Medical Gas and Medical Records): Saudi Arabia and Qatar
Microbiologists: Saudi Arabia
Caregivers: Israel, Japan, UK, Switzerland, Taiwan Belgium, Libya Macau

Education:

The growing lack of skilled educators in developed countries has also sparked the rush towards education courses.  Specially needed are elementary, secondary, science, math, physical education and childcare teachers, professors and lecturers in KSA, Libya, Seychellles, Macau, US and South Korea.

Culinary Arts and Hotel & Restaurant Management:

The rise of tourism as part of the development plan of quite a number of countries here in Asia, the Middle East and some parts of Europe has also catalyzed the demand for Chefs, tour guides, hotel mangers and other tourism related workers.  Demand for skilled workers in this area has been increasing steadily by a factor of 3.5% yearly for the past 5 years garnering a total of 160,300 manpower requests from several countries.
Top destination countries of graduates of these courses are Libya, Kuwait, UAE, CNMI, Oman, KSA, UAE, Korea, Macau, Singapore and Romania.

Banking and Finance Courses:

The increasing inter-connectedness of the global economy as well as the growth of the global financial market has also increased the demand for graduates of banking and finance graduates.  Of special mention in this category are Accounting Clerks, Bookkeepers, Auditors, Cashiers, Credit Card Analysts, Finance Analyst/Specialists, Accountants (Account Officer, Analyst), and Risk Management Officers.  These workers are in demand in developing countries and financial centers such as Libya, Kuwait, Singapore and Switzerland.

Engineering Courses:

Projects regarding megacities construction in the middle east, plans to increase manufacturing capacity, and the rise of renewable energy have all resulted to the shortage of skilled engineers worldwide.  The last 5 years alone have seen 256,000 manpower requests from different countries.  The demand for engineering graduates has been steadily increasing by 2.5% yearly.
Engineering Graduates of the following fields are poised to take advantage of this global demand:

1. Civil Engineering: Structural, Design, Safety, Planning and Contract
2. Electrical Engineering: Manufacturing, Construction and Renewable energy
3. Mechanical Engineering: manufacturing, real estate and renewable energy
4. Mining Engineering: Mining
5. Geodetic Engineering: Mining and real estate
6. Metallurgical Engineering: Mining
7. Chemical Engineering: Manufacturing
8. Industrial Engineering: Manufacturing

Top Destination countries are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Macau, Belgium, Germany, Norway and the USA.

Cyberservices:

A particularly interesting development in the most popular college courses based on global demand is in relation to cyberservices.  Demand for skilled workers in this industry has been increasing rapidly at about 6.4% yearly which is more than twice the other courses.  The last 5 years alone has seen more than 400,000 requests for manpower both locally and internationally.

In demand workers under this category are:

Creative Industries

1. Broadcast Engineer
2. Video Editor
3. Video Graphic Artist (Animators)
4. Visual Artist Designer
5. 3D modelers
6. 3D Artist
7. 3D Animators
8. Flash Animators
9. Animation Artist
10. Clean-Up Artist
11. In-between Artist/In-betweener
12. Clean-Up Art Checker
13. In-between Checker
14. Animation Checker
15. Web Designer
16. Multimedia Artist
17. Library builder
18. Layout artist
19. 2D digital animator
20. Graphic Assistants

Programmers:

1. Java Programmers
2. Oracle Developers
3. Web Developers
4. IT Programmers
5. Software Development
6. Computer Programmers
7. Developer (Software, Web)
8. IT/Information Technology (MIS Developer, Platform Engineer)
9. Specialist (Learning Solution, System and Technical Support)
10. Systems Analyst

Backoffice:

1. Accountant (Back Office Processing)
2. HR Outsourcing Specialist (Back Office Processing)
3. Call Center Agent
4. Medical Transcription Editor
5. Medical Transcription
6. Financial Accountants
7. Technical Support Engineers
8. Autocad Operators
9. Legal Researchers
10. Legal Analysts

Top Destination Countries of the graduates of these courses are:  Saudi Arabia, UAE, India, Singapore, Australia and US.

It’s All Up to You

Hopefully, I’ve gotten the gears in your mind turning.  Now that you have a more manageable list to refer to, your next order of business is to reconcile your needs and wants with what the world needs and wants.

We’ll talk a little bit more about that in another article, though.  For now, keep in mind that this list will only applicable for so long.  The world and its preferences are constantly changing, and consequently, its most popular courses will change along with it.

Source: Project JobsFit of DOLE