Work is historically evolving due to technological advancements, posing challenges for individuals and institutions. The actual Fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by AI, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, has rapidly increased these advancements, while the COVID-19 pandemic has anticipated future expected changes in the labor market. In this context, Higher Education Institutions must match their curricula with this dynamic labor market to equip graduates with relevant skills. However, the slow pace of educational transformation, partly due to a lack of data, hinders this alignment. This research introduces Future-oriented Higher Education Degree Employability (Fo-HECE) as an evaluation tool for the adherence of undergraduate degrees to the demands of the labor market in the next decade. We used a novel approach, combining the Operationalization of a social phenomenon with Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, with the participation of nine experts. As a use case, we applied the new approach to assess the future employability of ten undergraduate programs with the most enrolled students from one of the largest Brazilian universities. As a result, the indicators considered most relevant to measure Fo-HECE are Student-to-Job Ratio, Employment Balance, and Wage Premium. The degrees with the highest Fo-HECE grades were Law and Medicine, while Physical Education had the lowest grade. The Fo-HECE approach, as demonstrated in this case study, shows potential applicability to other HEIs and countries, provided that comparable labor market data are available. © 2025 by the authors.
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