From classroom to career: Benchmarking Senegal’s future jobs

University graduation comes with familiar markers – rites of passage, celebratory dinners, and, in some cases, elaborate parties. Years of hard work give way to pride and achievement. But for many graduates in Africa, the hard road to meaningful work dampens this excitement, with at least a quarter of students worried about their skills deficiency.

To address this gap, the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Vitae initiative and the World Bank partnered with Senegal’s Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation to jointly support 17 Senegalese higher education institutions to enhance the employability of their graduates.

The real challenge

Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to generate 230 million digital jobs by 2030. But the percentage of people with basic digital skills is low, and up to 27 percent of graduates in the region lack the essential skills for jobs, according to a Vitae graduate survey. Nearly half of the students lack access to career services and industry linkages – critical factors for job placement in an increasingly digital economy.

The government of Senegal, under its new National Employment Policy (NEP), has made clear its commitment to make youth employment and decent work a central piece of its development blueprint. A key part of this agenda includes integrating youth into economic programs and fostering more jobs. But the disconnect between learning programs and labor market priorities leaves many graduates with no viable skills for jobs.    

In addition, most tertiary education institutions are concentrated in urban areas with no clear roadmap for expanding vocational programs. This breeds inequity as people in urban areas enjoy better education attainment compared to rural residents. While employment programs have made important strides, they could benefit from better support. The persistent mismatch between learning programs and labor market demands pushes a vast majority of youth into informal employment, which limits their productivity and contribution to national development.

Delivering the jobs agenda as one

In 2023, the World Bank launched the ESPOIR-JEUNES project to help Senegal’s higher education institutions produce market-ready graduates, including by expanding access to technical and vocational training. The initiative aims to multiply the economic contribution of graduates to Senegal’s economy. 

Building on this effort, in February 2025, IFC brought its extensive education advisory experience—spanning more than 200 institutions through Vitae and Digital for Tertiary Education Program (D4TEP)—and joined efforts with the World Bank’s regional team to support Senegal’s graduate employment ambitions.

Together, the teams carried out a nationwide benchmarking exercise that leveraged IFC’s employability benchmarking methodology and the World Bank’s in-country knowledge to assess the market relevance and digital maturity of Senegal’s higher education system. Working closely with the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, IFC provided technical leadership on the assessment while the World Bank facilitated engagement with key national stakeholders. The process culminated in a national roundtable with 84 higher education leaders, where participants discussed best practices in employability, digital skills and AI-supported career preparation, and explored ways to strengthen graduate outcomes and institutional readiness for a digital economy. 

Drawing on these findings, IFC and the World Bank are now providing technical assistance to participating institutions. This includes launching a graduate tracer study and establishing advisory committees with industry representatives to align curricula with labor-market needs.  

Innovation in action

To support graduate success in the job market, IFC and the World Bank launched a career page targeting French-speaking students. It features a suite of tailored learning resources, including videos on career preparedness and exclusive access to career guidance and a matching platform.

In addition, the team is developing a proprietary AI-powered career guidance chatbot accessible to users 24/7 both on WhatsApp and the web.  This concept, designed to expand access to career support across Francophone Africa, won the Youth Innovation Fund Pitch Competition, a program that supports early career World Bank Group employees to shape development projects in priority areas.

The bottom line

Driving graduate employability in emerging economies underpins the World Bank Group’s jobs agenda. When young people are supported to gain relevant skills, it opens the door to better jobs and better livelihoods. But it begins with helping higher education institutions retool program offerings for market relevance.  

As Senegal sets sights on becoming a prosperous economy by 2050, preparing its youthful and dynamic population for jobs is just as urgent. IFC and the World Bank are showing how working as a united front can ignite development and lay the foundation for lasting, country-level impacts.