What specialty to choose

  What specialty to choose

Perhaps this is one of the hottest and most discussed issues among applicants and their parents. The pandemic has highlighted the volatility of many professions in the labor market. Employers are seriously considering the possibilities of automating routine, introducing artificial intelligence and other technological innovations. As a result, many specialists run the risk of being out of work in three to five years if they do not expand their competencies. It is not surprising that when choosing a university and a specialty, applicants want to choose something as flexible and universal as possible in order to keep their profession, job and the opportunity to stay in the EU for permanent residence with a high degree of probability (we discussed how to do this in this article) ...

In order to avoid empty words, I will now try to convey to you the situation in the EU in two directions: trends and areas in demand. This will make it easier for you to assess the situation, think it over and make an informed decision.

a) Trends

Digitalization (or, as it is now fashionable to say, digitalization) is a top topic on the labor market. Many are afraid that neural networks and robots will come and deprive all people of their jobs. Actually this is not true. Yes, there will be changes, but along with them new professions and new directions will appear. In addition, not all activities can be automated. And this is not just about intellectual work. For example, even a seemingly simple task like cleaning a hotel room is now beyond the power of any robot (at this stage of development). And there are a lot of such examples.

Most professions require a variety of human skills that take years to develop. Therefore, the professions of the future imply close interaction between machines and humans, but in no way substitution of some for others. As a result, new activities and technologies are developing: artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), virtual and augmented reality (VR, AR), etc.

Moreover, over the past five years, an urgent need for specialists capable of working at the intersection of several professions or technologies has clearly emerged. Universities have responded to this trend and offer a huge range of interdisciplinary programs. The emergence of new professions is predicted in almost all sectors of the economy, and most of them will be interdisciplinary (and very many with the IT prefix). For example, medicine is now actively integrating with robotics. Robots and neural networks are now actively connecting to both diagnostics and surgery (most notable evidence is the IBM Watson system).

As the pandemic has shown, professions must also be flexible, capable of quickly adapting to changes, and specialists, if necessary, work remotely. It is possible that forms of work with which we are already familiar, such as coworking or home office, will be used more and more in the future.

By the way, companies that allow their employees to work from home want to position themselves first as an attractive employer, and secondly, to save costs.

It is possible that the work of the future will be more flexible, project-oriented and short-term, giving more control over the distribution of working time and tasks. According to XING (a platform for finding business contacts, especially popular in Austria, Germany and Switzerland), out of more than 15 million XING users, over 1 million are already working as freelancers, i.e. self-employed in various projects.

Finally, the most obvious trend is the massive shift to distance learning. This trend has grown slowly and gotten stronger over the past years, but the 2020 pandemic has given it a powerful boost.

b) Popular destinations

Austrian universities respond quickly to new trends, resulting in new specialties and courses every year. At first glance, it may seem that the IT sphere is now a priority, but this is not entirely true. There are many niches where techies, humanities, doctors and scientists are needed. It's just that higher education is now adjusting to the integration of information technology into classical specialties.

Against the background of the situation with the coronavirus, it is already clear that medicine is one of the priority areas. Plus, the demand for specialists who can collect and process data will grow every day. Moreover, the collection and analysis of data is being implemented in many other areas (both in marketing, and in management consulting, and in other industries where research is needed).

In addition to collecting data, protecting it is also important. This is especially needed by the automotive industry (with the development of self-driving cars) and the financial sector. There is always an increased demand for information security specialists here. At the same time, please note that without human participation, new technologies cannot take on all tasks. Therefore, HR specialists also play an important role here.

To summarize, we get the most popular directions today - these are: Medicine, pharmacology and human care Exact and natural sciences, the so-called. MINT-Fächer (mathematics, computer science, chemistry, physics, biology, engineering). Information technology and programming Interdisciplinary specialties: medical biology, economics and ecology, IT and medicine (for example, telesurgery), economic informatics, etc. Intercultural communication, social sciences and work with people Design of robots (including medical, home, prostheses, etc.) Robot control Virtual environment design Waste recycling (as these are “raw materials of the 21st century”) Energy, especially with regard to renewable sources Logistics, incl. unmanned Average salaries in the EU for all specialties are in the range from 40 to 50 thousand euros per year. Conclusion Despite the fact that 2020 has changed the way of life of many people, higher education in Austria is still relevant and, most importantly, residents of the CIS countries can still get it. Unfortunately, one article cannot cover all areas, universities and features. Therefore, if you are interested in specific specialties or universities, write in the comments or ask a question personally in any convenient way. For my part, I want to sincerely wish you good health. Take care of yourself and your loved ones, maintain social distance and be careful.