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[nomad soul]

Foreigners required in KSA ‘for 40 more years’
By Galal Fakkar, Arab News | 9 May 2014
Source: http://www.arabnews.com/news/567926

JEDDAH--A prominent labor expert has suggested that the Kingdom will require expatriate manpower in various sectors over the next 40 years.

Abdullah Dahlan, former Saudi representative to the International Labor Organization (ILO) and chairman of the board of trustees of the University of Business and Technology, also reiterated the need for more Saudi men and women to match their specialties with labor market needs. There are currently 2.5 million people out of work in the Kingdom, of which 44 percent are university graduates. “While unemployment figures are on the decline according to a recent study conducted by the university, the relatively high unemployment rate among university graduates is due to the fact that more than two-thirds of these graduates are holders of theoretical academic degrees that offer no vocational skills, while the other third are science graduates,” he said. Another reason for lack of employability, said Dahlan, is unsatisfactory education levels. “A low-quality education results in less qualifications, thus requiring extensive training for requalification into the labor market,” he said.

Dahlan prefers not to blame authorities. He recommends instead focusing on educational reforms that will help enhance teaching levels, particularly with the support of Education Minister Prince Khaled Al-Faisal in revamping the education system. “Women represent a significant component of the workforce and must have their rights met, especially since they account for the highest unemployment rates,” he said. “There are three variables that must be altered to improve work environment and make employment more attractive, which include restructuring syllabi without placing special emphasis on religion and Arabic and introducing courses that are essential for today’s work market, such as English language courses.”

Dahlan also suggested introducing courses that teach simple business concepts in order to build students’ hands-on experience. University disciplines should be similarly restructured to meet market demands, he said. More than seven million of the 20 million Saudis are under the age of 15, while seven million are unemployable, according to a statistical study conducted in 2012.

Hussein Al-Alawy, the university’s director, said that his institution has sought to provide quality vocational education since it was founded a few years ago. The founders are currently working on establishing a college of medicine and a university hospital over the next two years, he said, confirming that land has been purchased for the construction of buildings for these majors. He also said that the Kingdom’s Higher Education minister has issued approval to introduce the insurance specialty from the beginning of the next academic year. “New students will soon be able to apply for this major, which is one of the most sought after disciplines in the Saudi labor market today,” he said. The current Saudi insurance market is estimated at more than SR21 billion and includes 34 licensed companies. The market is expected to be worth SR34 billion by 2015.

Al-Alawy also said that the Kingdom, represented by the Ministry of Higher Education, seeks to equip highly qualified Saudi cadres in disciplines relevant to the labor market. The university will open admissions for majors such as civil engineering at the College of Engineering to meet market needs, he said. “The decision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to give young Saudi men and women scholarships has allowed and supported many students to complete their undergraduate degrees,” he said. “Our ‘education for employment’ logo is a motto that is consistent with the modern-day era.” The university will celebrate the graduation of 250 students on Thursday during a ceremony to be held in Jeddah in the presence of Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed.

(End of article)

[ogio]

40 years. Isn't that when the oil runs out?

[grayskies]

Hasn't civil engineering been one of the (Saudi) universities main degree programs throughout their (oil) history? So in essence, what has really changed?!

[rollingk]

Seems that what this article says is that all these "degrees" that are being awarded mean zilch, that those receiving their papers have received only the paper in the end. I think most of us who have taught at tertiary level in KSA already knew this, but I suppose having a Saudi admit it will go some way in convincing those with their heads up their whazoos otherwise. Most diplomas are good for cleaning-up paper and that's about all.

[scot47]

I see a convergence between the education systems in KSA and the West. In the UK now 540 percent of school-leavers go on to higher education. they specialise not in useful fields like plumbing and electronics but in Media Studies and Sociology ! Most graduates are so unemployable that they are reduced to teaching English in the Middle East for the likes of EdEx !

[veiledsentiments]

[MuscatGary]

I think the situation is the same across the ME although the timescales vary. The big problem for the locals is because they are unable/unwilling to work for themselves now and when the oil runs out they will no longer be able to afford the ex-pats and by then will have whole generations of unskilled, workshy, spoilt natives. Then we will see the Arab Spring to end all Arab Springs...

[2buckets]

We don't have to wait for the oil to run out.

Within 10 years there will be so much oil on the market due to new discoveries and new technology to recover previously expensive crude that the Gulf will no longer be a player on the international oil market.

Remember 10 yeas ago when all the hand wringers and whiners were talking about "peak oil". Well that myth has certainly been dispelled by places like North Dakota.

[jaffa]

That flood of oil will bring the price down for sure and then the problem for Saudi especially, and the UAE, is that they need it at $100 pb to sustain what they are now (belatedly) trying to build in terms of domestic infrastructure. The Bush/Blair project to invade Iraq was done in collusion with the Sauds, with the resultant hike in oil prices at the fore.

[scot47]

I have been hearing predictions about the imminent end of the "Oil Economy" since I first went to the region, in September 1970.

[trapezius]

40?

LOL, more like 150-200 years minimum. You need several generations to create the experts that they import from outside, especially in the sciences, engineering, medicine, and now, "the internet of everything" (smart homes, smart roads, smart buildings, smart everything), which is the future for any modern country. Furthermore, technology keeps evolving and improving non-stop, and educational institutions and the workplaces here are slow to pick up on the changes, which will require the use of small numbers of highly trained outsiders till perpetuity. As for reliance on foreigners as now, at least another century or two.

(this is not even touching the issue of attitude to work and the fact that most Saudi students want to go into business)

But if you are talking about jobs that Saudis see as beneath them (maids, servants, drivers, cleaners, "teaboys", etc), then forever.

As for the university that he is a founder and owner of, has he looked at the education there? Cheating among students is epidemic, and most faculty teach only a small part of the syllabus, and give extremely easy exams that are fit perhaps for middle school. I know because I worked there for many years.

[nomad soul]

[nomad soul]

[trapezius]

Actually, looking at higher education is the wrong thing to do.

SA will not develop a mature, skilled, and knowledgeable workforce until they bring their K-12 curriculum up to international standards. Once that is done, everything else will automatically fall in place.

The country has one of the worst K-12 curricula in the world. Creating mega-universities here for Saudi students is like trying to polish a t***.

[rollingk]

I think the man should be applauded for even bringing it up in a culture which practically never accepts fault for anything, and where the sense of entitlement is so great it subverts nearly every good effort by those who know a little better.

But I reckon there'll be years yet of useless classes and meaningless degrees before anything changes in a substantial way here. After all, no one mentions the utter unaccountability of students and Saudi administrations generally, rather they prefer to point to structural problems and the like as primary culprits for failure in education. Even the gentlemen quoted in the article does this.