Keywords

1 Introduction

The European Higher Education Area promotes the design of curricula focused on the acquisition of competencies. Efficient human resource management needs accurate assessment and representation of available competencies as well as effective mapping of required competencies for specific jobs and positions. Thus, the definition and identification of competence gaps express differences between acquired and required competencies using a mathematical approach to support accurate competence analytics. Lack of skills and insufficient qualifications of employees are cited as major barriers to the adoption of new technologies in the context of Industry 4.0. These changes require skills for data analytics tasks. Business analytics (BA) becomes increasingly important under a rapidly changing business environment. It requires a conceptual model for the professional profile of a Data Scientist in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), namely in the European e-Competence (e-CF) framework and the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) are related with ICT competencies/skills, including programming, machine learning, and databases. The Data Scientist professional profile combining contributions from different areas, such as computer science, statistics, and mathematics. To analyze the impact of competencies on employment we subcategorized competencies into generic and specific subject competencies for different job types.

The results show that data management capability fully mediates between IT competence and BA use. The paper analyses how individual job competencies requirements impact wage changes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate gaps and complementarities in the preparation of a business analyst between the requirements of the labor market and the educational standards.

The remainder of our paper is organized as follows: in Sect. 2 we analyze the Ukrainian IT market and the imbalance of quality in the IT labor market in Ukraine. In Sect. 3, we present and discuss the experimental model where we investigate specific subject competencies from high education institutes of Ukraine which significantly impact an average wage of a business analyst. Finally, the last section concludes.

2 Related Works

2.1 The Imbalance of Quality in the IT Labor Market in Ukraine

Despite the importance of higher education, IT specialists seem to prefer non- or informal education to receive updated professional skills and build a successful well-paid career. Based on a survey of 8,638 questionnaires of IT sector workers, a portrait of a modern Ukrainian IT specialist was drawn up. Thus, 87% of women and 82% of men working in this field, have higher education. It is interesting to note that 58% of women and 64% of men, who hold technical positions, have higher field-specific education [1]. Moreover, IT majors are also popular among second higher education students. “Information Systems” is becoming more and more popular in recent years [2]. However, the interest in higher education within technical majors (especially at the second level degree) gradually declines. The reasons are the irrelevance of some educational components and neglect of the diploma’s importance in the real labor market. Consequently, formal education hands to work experience and non-formal/informal education guaranteeing certificates, which are usually more significant for employers to compare with a prestigious university diploma. In long-term orientation, this tendency hides the risk to tear down fundamental basics of training of specialists within technical majors at classical universities, in favor of professional or informal training. As a result, universities can transform into a networking platform rather than being educational providers. For instance, a common report of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund and UNIT.City on the topic of IT ecosystem in Ukraine profiles 7 leading universities within technical majors and 18 IT courses and schools. Moreover, the general number of students in IT courses and schools is 46.5 times bigger than at universities (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Types of formal and non-formal education of IT specialists, % [1]

Full size image

In 2018, 10% of employed and hired people in the Ukrainian IT sphere did not have a university diploma [3]. According to HeadHunter, around 56% and ITUkraine Association - 36% of domestic IT professionals do not have a university diploma and this indicator is gradually increasing both in Ukraine and all over the world [4]. Apple CEO Tim Cook has officially stated that half of the 2018 hires do not have a college degree because most colleges do not teach their students skills that are required by large corporations [4]. Despite old mathematical and IT schools, historically formed in Ukraine, modern systems of secondary and higher education in Ukraine are focused more on the acquisition and reproduction of fundamental knowledge, rather than skills and competencies: professional (ability to solve case studies), as well as soft skills (communication, presentation, organizational, teamwork), which are priorities for employers when being hired. Consequently, the government spends resources irrationally to teach future specialists, while business has been preparing their corporate roster for 3–6 months before hiring (Table 1).

Thus, to meet the current challenges of the labor market, IT representatives are forced to actively engage in self-education mostly aimed at learning foreign languages (often English) and developing soft skills through psychological and management training (most often in time management, team-building, leadership, project management, promotion, marketing) rarely in hard skills (different programming languages) [2]. A sufficient system of motivation for the IT work based on an assessment of their competence level should be a tool for solving the problems of IT education development [5].

In 2015, the reform of higher education in Ukraine began. It was aimed at acquisition competencies - Generic Competencies, closely connected with soft skills and Subject Specific Competencies.

Table 1. Institutional support for IT education in Ukraine [6]
Full size table

To investigate the gap between the quality of higher education and the requirements of employers, we have selected a job position “Business Analyst”. Both IT specialists and economists with analytical thinking and basic knowledge of programming can apply for this position (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Basic characteristics of a business analyst

Full size image

As a consequence, graduates of three majors can work as business analysts: systems analysis (124), economics (051, specialization: economic cybernetics), and information systems and technologies (126).

2.2 Compare Analysis of BA Skills by IIBA and Ukrainian Education System

The importance of BA specialists, within IT and Industry 4.0 development, is difficult to overestimate. However, even developed countries [7, 8] and most corporations [9, 10] feel unmet demand from highly skilled specialists, especially in the field of STEM. As a result, the term gap skills have even emerged, which the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) describes as “a significant gap between an organization’s current capabilities and the skills it needs to achieve its goals” [9]. The scale of this problem is underlined by the fact that gap skills have become inherent both for the micro-level and the labor market, which is a significant barrier to the new technologies [10] and thus can create a threat to the national economy. One of the reasons for the gap in skills is the gap in education and the real requirements of the labor market, which is especially evident in the rapidly growing IT sector [11, 12].

International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) identifies 6 roles of BA naming various skills, knowledge, and experience of each of them [13]. Among soft skills in demand, almost all of them are in Generic Competencies of higher education standards of Business Analyst in Ukraine and Ukrainian labor market except facilitation skill and ability to participate on multi-disciplinary work teams, which should be considered in detail (Table 2).

Table 2. Compare analysis of BA soft skills by IIBA and Ukrainian education system [13].
Full size table

Comparing hard skills by IIBA, Ukrainian labor market requirements, and Specific Subject Competencies (Table 3), we can mention that in Ukraine BA focuses mainly on IT skills and knowledge, whereas abroad it includes strong business skills (Business rules analysis, Costs benefit analysis, SME, KPI, etc.).

Table 3. Compare analysis of BA soft skills by IIBA and Ukrainian education system [13].
Full size table

This is confirmed by many studies as well: C. Bullen and et al. [14] identified project and business skills as more important than technical; A. Aken and M. Michalisin established 4 skills types Soft, Technical, Programming, and Business [15]; T. Chakabuda said employers deem business interpersonal competency as one of the most important [16]. That is why the educational reform in Ukraine should take into account foreign experience of the business analysis sphere including the economic part.

There are different ways to limit the skills gap: certification of employees, skills certificates, on-the-job training, apprenticeship programs, training, and post-secondary education, etc. [9]. However, the last option is not highly effective, especially in the IT sector compare with work experience [7]. Instead, the improvement of BA skills should include two components: basic – update educational program at universities jointly with business, public sector, other stakeholders, and variable – practical courses provided by employers at the workplace, since “82% of organizations are increasing investments in reskilling their workforce” [10]. It requires common efforts from all parties, because “Businesses are beginning to realize the importance of collaborating with local education institutions, and vice versa” [9]. For instance, the Business analysis competency model by IIBA includes 3 components “knowledge, experience and choice of behavior, these together consistently create success” [13]. However, these items can not be developed independently, but only in cooperation (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Model of BA skills improvement

Full size image

3 Experimental Model

3.1 The Gaps Between the Requirements of the Labor Market and the Educational Standards

Domestic higher education institutions in business analysts training should develop an educational program and frame educational process to form generic (GC) and subject specific competencies (SC) of graduates in a line with standards of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in System Analysis (124), Economics (051, economic cybernetics), Information Systems and Technologies (126) [17].

We have carried out a comparative analysis of generic and subject specific competencies according to the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for majors 051, 124, 126 essentials to become a business analyst. As a result, we obtained 18 common generic (Table 4) and 22 common subject specific competencies (Table 5).

Table 4. Generic Competencies of business analyst by higher education institutions
Full size table
Table 5. Subject specific competencies of business analyst by higher education institutions
Full size table

We have analyzed the general requirements of employers for the competencies of applicants for the position of business analyst on the sites for job search: work.ua, rabota.ua, djinni.co, linkedin.com, hh.ua, it-stars.ua, jobs.ua. Then, we have compared them with standards of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (Tables 4 and 5). As a result, we identified generic (Table 6) and subject specific (Table 7) competencies common both for the labor market and higher education institutions.

Table 6. Common generic competencies of a business analyst for higher education institutions and labor market
Full size table
Table 7. Common subject specific competencies of a business analyst for higher education institutions and labor market
Full size table

Based on open Internet sources of websites for job search, a data set of 118 vacancies for the position of the business analyst was created. This data set includes the name of the employer, vacant position the average salary, and required generic and specific subject competencies (Table 8), and wage distribution of business analysts (Fig. 4).

Table 8. Vacant position profile of business analyst competencies on the labor market
Full size table
Fig. 4.
figure 4

Wage distribution of business analysts, UAH (2020)

Full size image

All vacancies can be classified by the following industries: IT consulting (48), Banks (23), Retail (12), Government Institution (6), Others (29) (include mobile operators, agriculture, oil, etc.).

To determine the relevance of the impact of generic and specific subject competencies on the average wage, we consider a multiple regression model:

$$ w_{i} = b_{0} + \mathop \sum \limits_{j = 1}^{13} GC_{j} + \mathop \sum \limits_{k = 1}^{15} SC_{k} + u_{i} $$
(1)

where \(w_{i}\) – the average wage for a job \(i\), \(GC_{j}\) – generic competence \(j\), \(SC_{k}\) – specific subject competence \(k\), \(u_{i}\) – error term. The following code snippets in R are used to calculate the regression parameters:

figure a

It has been obtained that by the sampling of all positions of business analysts:

1) use of information and communication technologies or Presentation Skills (GC11) can increase the average monthly wage by +UAH9361.9;

2) the ability to apply knowledge in practical situations or Problem Solving (SC6) causes an average wage increasing by UAH 10009 (Table 9).

Table 9. Statistically significant Competencies for the labor market
Full size table

Among BA job applicants with GC11 competence; only 10% have SC6 specific subject competence simultaneously, and vice versa: if a candidate has SC6 competence, only every tenth has GC11 competence using library ggplot2 and following function in R (Fig. 5):

figure b

For the IT industry, the most important competencies were revealed as follow:

1) SC8 Management Accounting, Corporate Finance, and Financial Statements/1C determined an average monthly wage increase of +UAH 23376;

2) SC14 The ability to form new competitive ideas and implement them in projects (start-ups) for graduates does not meet the requirements of the IT industry (JIRA Confluence, MS Project), and therefore leads to a decrease in salary by UAH 9062, which confirms the lack of competence in the HEA.

Among BA job applicants with SC8 competence, only 20% have SC14 specific subject competence at the same time. If the applicant has SC14 competence, only 10% have SC8 competence. Among BA job applicants with GC11 competence, only 10% have SC6 specific subject competence, and vice versa: if a candidate has SC6 competence, only every tenth has GC11 competence (Fig. 6):

figure c
Fig. 5.
figure 5

Relationship between GC11 and SC6 competencies

Full size image
Fig. 6.
figure 6

Relationship between SC8 and SC14 competencies

Full size image

As well as if the applicant has SC8 competency for the BA vacancy, his/her average wage remains lower than in the case of other competencies required:

figure d
Fig. 7.
figure 7

Wage distribution for SC8 competence

Full size image

SC8's competence slightly increases the average wage, while in its absence the wage increases much faster. Therefore, the skills of an accountant in the labor market are worth much less than the skills of a business analyst (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8.
figure 8

Wage dynamics in the absence and availability of SC8 competence

Full size image

For other positions not covered by IT consulting, Banks Government Institutions, the most required competencies were revealed:

1) SC13 Ability to manage and use state-of-the-art information and communication systems and technologies (including Internet-based ones, MS Access, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint) adds +UAH 29996 each month;

2) SC14 The ability to form new competitive ideas and implement them in projects (startups), JIRA Confluence, MS Project proves that this competence is formed for other industries and raises wages by an average of UAH 36683.

Thus, the wage distribution is set out as follows (Fig. 9), where the average wage per year is UAH 20,000 and has a significant potential to increase when additional required specific subject competencies in the labor market are presented.

Fig. 9.
figure 9

Wage distribution for BA position

Full size image

A system of certificates can be an effective tool to overcome a gap between educational programs [18,19,20,21] and employers' requirements [22,23,24,25]. This system should be developed jointly by university representatives and companies and will certify the students' competence in certain highly specialized fields of knowledge and confirm the quality of the education obtained through professional qualifications (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10.
figure 10

Scientific-educational-practical complex of students teaching at IT majors

Full size image

3.2 The Complementarities Between the Requirements of the Labor Market and the Educational Standards

Due to the results of the analysis of 325 vacancies from 107 companies in open Internet sources in the field of business intelligence (IT-consulting/Services/Equipment Manufacturing) (45%), Banks (20%), Retail (11%), Governmental institutions (6%) and Others (19%)) demand for soft skills (general competencies) in percentage is determined by the following distribution (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11.
figure 11

The share of required soft skills for business analysts (%)

Full size image

The most demanded soft skills (general competences) are: \(GC_{4}\) Analytical and logical thinking, systems thinking (18,5%), \(GC_{10}\) English (16,3%), \(GC_{12}\) Communication (12,9%), \(GC_{8}\) Teamwork (7,1%), \(GC_{1}\) Desire to learn (6,8%), \(GC_{5}\) Attention to Detail (6,2%).

At the same time, more than half of vacancies for business analysts (55%) are in demand in the field of IT-consulting/Services/Equipment Manufacturing (Fig. 12). The most important soft skills are English (17.9%), Analytical and logical thinking, systems thinking (12.8%), Communication (12.3%), Teamwork (7.3%), Attention to Detail (7, 3%), Desire to learn (7.3%).

Fig. 12.
figure 12

Distribution of demanded soft skills for business analysts in the field of IT-consulting/Services/Equipment Manufacturing (%)

Full size image

Some competencies are formed in students during higher education, others during full or part-time employment in the firms. With experience, employees develop more specific subject competencies in demand in the labor market. Combinations of these competencies create vacancies in the labor market. Formation of some competencies requires both higher education and experience in the firms.

According to the results of data analysis revealed statistically significant regression parameters between the demand for competence and the average years of schooling in higher education institutions (\(y = b_{0} + b_{1} \cdot x_{1}\)) and between the demand for competence and work experience (applicant's experience) (\(y = c_{0} + c_{1} \cdot x_{2}\)) based on open data (Table 10), where \(b_{1}\) shows how the number of vacancies with this competence will change with the increasing length of studies by one year; \(c_{1}\) shows how the number of vacancies with this competence will change with increasing experience by one year. In parentheses near to each competence included in the vacancy, specific subject competencies in educational programs (standards) are indicated, if any.

Simple regression models in Table 10 show that the applicant is more likely to get a job due to work experience, rather than higher education. Simple regression is more relevant in this case than multiple one due to forming of some competences only under impact of higher education or only under work experience. Thus, the formation of the competence ‘Experience in the development of technical documentation, requirements, software development processes' due to the additional year of study at the HEI allows to increase the number of vacancies by 4, while the formation of this competence due to the additional year of experience increases the number of vacancies on average by 15. The chances to fill a vacancy with the formed competence 'Understanding of agile development processes in higher education and due to work experience is for each additional year 3.4 against 12.4, respectively.

Table 10. Formation of competencies under the influence of higher education and work experience
Full size table

If the formation of competencies requires both higher education and work experience, then according to Table 10, greater opportunities for the applicant open up through work experience than through higher education by an average of 3.4 times. The calculations are made based on coefficients of explanatory variables for both regressions of the Table 10 (\(x_{i}\), \(i = 1,2\)).

According to the results of the analysis of the relevance of higher education and work experience, the following results were obtained:

Table 11. Relevant factors that form the competencies of applicants
Full size table

Table 11 demonstrates that the formation of business analysts’ competencies required in the labor market is due to higher education (47%) and the experience of applicants (53%).

4 Conclusions

For the IT industry, the most important competencies were revealed as follow: Management Accounting, Corporate Finance, and Financial Statements determined an average monthly wage increase of +UAH 23376; the ability to form new competitive ideas and implement them in projects (start-ups) for graduates does not meet the requirements of the IT industry (JIRA Confluence, MS Project), and therefore leads to a decrease in salary by UAH 9062, which confirms the lack of competence in the HEA.

For other positions not covered by IT consulting, Banks Government Institutions, the most required competencies were revealed: the ability to manage and use state-of-the-art information and communication systems and technologies (including Internet-based ones, MS Access, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint) adds +UAH 29996 each month; the ability to form new competitive ideas and implement them in projects (startups), JIRA Confluence, MS Project prove that this competence is formed for other industries and raises wages by an average of UAH 36683. Formation of business analysts competencies required in the labor market is created both higher education (47%) and experience of applicants on the labor market (53%).