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[Kornan DeKobb]

Informative overview of the current situation.

First Published 2010-02-17

The Realities of Higher Education in the Gulf

The Gulf states have allocated huge budgets to foreign scholarship programs. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for example, there are 80,000 students on study courses abroad. Also, branches of foreign universities have been opened in a number of GCC states, says Ahmed Al Eisa.

During the last decade there has been an education boom in the GCC. The most significant aspect of this boom is a quantitative expansion in institutions of higher education, universities or specialist colleges. For example, while there were just eight government universities in the KSA for the past 30 years, in the past few years 15 universities and community colleges have been established. The factors that have contributed to this quantitative expansion include a trend in the private sector to invest in higher education, which has led to the creation of what is known as private universities.

The Gulf states have allocated huge budgets to foreign scholarship programs. In the KSA for example, there are 80,000 students on study courses abroad. Also, branches of foreign universities have been opened in a number of GCC states, such as Qatar and the UAE. In addition, several research centers, institutions and academic verification authorities have also been established. We can say that the recent expansion in the sector of higher education has not resulted from any long-term strategic planning, but has been a response to contemporary pressures such as the increasing number of high-school graduates, which has necessitated admitting a large number of students at the tertiary level. As for the characteristics of higher education institutions in the GCC states, it has been noted that they do not contribute much to cultural and intellectual activities in the GCC and their role has been restricted to instruction and granting academic certificates.

It is worth mentioning that the number of female students in higher education in the Gulf generally is greater than the number of male students. For instance, in KSA female students constitute two thirds of the total number of students enrolled in higher education. However, this is not reflected in the labor market where the contribution of Gulf women is considered low. Moreover, although the GCC was founded more than 30 years ago, cooperation and integration between universities in the Gulf region remains weak.

The quantitative expansion of higher education has exhausted the efforts of the GCC. This expansion has affected the ability to recruit academics and in spite of the expansion of scholarship programs to compensate for this deficiency, the problem will continue for a number of coming years. Existing negative aspects include the weakness of integration of public education and university education. For example, most universities have had to introduce a preparatory year to compensate for the weakness of graduates from high school. This preparatory year is, in fact, a burden on institutes of higher education.

Investing in the sector of higher education has been met with enthusiasm but private education is now facing a number of challenges, the most important of which are funding, regulations governing licensing, academic verification, and poor level of research in government universities.

There is no doubt that opening branches of foreign universities in a number of GCC states, such as the experiment of the Qatar Establishment and Knowledge Village free zone in Dubai, has had its positive aspects, but the experiment is facing changes relating to the interaction of the cultural identity of these universities with the local cultural identity and the meeting of societal needs.

On the other hand, distance learning education represents a matter of interest in the Gulf countries. There are initiatives to establish specialized centers for this type of education and the opening of the Arab University in Kuwait is only one step in this domain. However, there is still a need to assess this move and develop it.

Finally, there exists a gap between education and the labor market in the GCC, and the institutions of higher education are not responsible for this gap alone. The economic institutions in these countries share this responsibility as well. The institutions of higher education must play a greater role in the Gulf societies. This role requires not only more funding but more grants to independent administrative and educational institutions in order to have identities of their own. In addition to the importance and necessity of building an efficient academic environment open to global culture, the graduates of this environment must be suitable for the requirements of the labor market.

Dr. Ahmed Al Eisa is President of Al-Yamamah University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This article was a lecture submitted at the 15th Annual Conference of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR).

[15yearsinQ8]

the author glosses over several points and this is misleading
1) the arab open university headquartered in kuwait but with many country branches is NOT distance learning but modelled on the open uni. in the UK wherein students are traditionally working adults who meet in a traditional classroom once every 2 weeks and are given work and review past work. they do this work on their own or meeting an assigned tutor who maintains certain office hours.
2) i would argue the preparatory year is a cash cow - doing what a language institute does but at college tuition cost and classes are full, full, full - there are also secondary revenue streams from these students - eg cafeteria, book store, etc - it's all about money - students are never told they can 'test out' of the prep year with toefl / ielts scores....

[veiledsentiments]

Yes, but most of the students in the foundation year(s) in the Gulf are at government colleges and universities... and the government is in effect giving them a free education for 5-6 years to get a BA.

It is definitely a cash cow in the US (and likely the UK), and in the smaller private universities in the Gulf.

VS

[Neil McBeath]

There is nothing new in this article.

All Dr. Al Eisa is doing is confirming predictions made by Birks and Rimmer back in 1984.

The demand for tertiary education in the AGGC states will be as everlasting as the demand for medical coverage. If the AGCC states were prepared to simply open the doors to anyone who felt like going to a university, then the demand MIGHT be satisfied, but only until the populace realised that there was post-graduate education.

Female undergraduates outnumber the males partly because the women's choice is still so much more limited, but also because, in some countries, like Oman, men actually want wives who are educated and can work. Even in the UAE, where most women do not work, a degree can get a girl a wider choice of partners.

It is unfortunate that the qantitative expansion of education has not been matched by a similar qualitative improvement, but as Al. Eisa points out, the expansion has effectively emptied the pool of good academics who are prepared to relocate to the Gulf.

Until the gap between education and the labour market is bridged, then things will go on as they are, but I still fail to see why this is being said NOW. It is a problem that was foreseen.

[kazazt]

The bridge between the labour market is so much more evident in the UK now not just because of the recession but because the hugh expansion in higher education is showing up the mismatch between the two. Aiming for 50% of young people to have degrees is ludicrous from an employment point of view and we have headed the same way as the US where you now need a Masters to get any kind of job.

[Pikgitina]

I'm not convinced that the governments of the GCC countries really want to educate their populations. It seems to me that they want high school graduates to become skilled at tertiary institutions in order for them to become part of the local job markets, but not for them to become educated - able to do things, but not able to think, feel or say how they feel.

"Real education" would require open-minded, open-ended, challenging thinking. This kind of education would shake the foundations of these countries, as too many people might realise that they are missing out on certain things in life. But at the same time, the governments here can't go on funding unemployed, unskilled, uneducated people and their large families forever.

It's the quintessential dilemma, but a decision either way is not made. Instead, more institutions are opened where high school graduates can go, while for the wealthier and more open-minded, there are the options of sending children abroad or enrolling them at local branches of world-renowned foreign universities. The latter is, in essence, challenging education lite.

Would it be too much of a generalisation to say that the vast majority of us humans would not have gone to all the trouble of getting a proper education if it wasn't necessary? In most of the GCC countries, or at least in the four incredibly wealthy ones, students still don't see or have this need. The government is there to take care of them. So why study? And even more so for the female students here, if their familes won't allow them to work anyway, why go to all the trouble of actually studying?

These are just thoughts, by the way... not sure how accurate they are...

[veiledsentiments]

The reality is that everywhere education is only partially about teaching anything of actual use... and mainly a way to keep the next generation off the streets and out of the job market. (and politics) Keeping them in school is easier and cheaper than building new prisons or growing your military and keeping them at war. (two lessons that the US has forgotten)

Just think about what we learned in our 18-20+ years stuck in classrooms as students. What percentage of it was really needed for any job we ever had? The principle important skill is reading... and I could do that before I started school.

VS

[scot47]

"The principle important skill is reading," says the feline. Now which skill is least developed in our student populations in KSA and the other Gulf States ?

[johnslat]

Dear scot47,

"Now which skill is least developed in our student populations in KSA and the other Gulf States ?"

Writing.

Regards,
John

[veiledsentiments]

I'd say that writing is their worst skill. With reading, coming in a close second to the last. Of course, the two skills are so inter-related.

See... they spend all those years in their schools and don't even learn the most important skills... even in their own language (as many of them admitted to me). It is even more about 'babysitting' for all those years than in our Western systems.

VS
(I see John and I are doing synchronized posting again..)

[uaeobserver]

someone should pay Colin Powell a comission for that famous madrassa speech.

[johnslat]

Here's a link to an article at the NYT that disputes what it calls the "The Madrassa Myth"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/14/opinion/14bergen.html

Any comments?

Regards,
John

[Sheikh N Bake]

[Sheikh N Bake]

[veiledsentiments]

If one can read, one can educate oneself. I learned multiples more outside of the classroom than I learned inside. School keeps one occupied until one has the maturity to learn on one's own. The biggest jump is when one realizes what one doesn't know... but wants to...

And so it continues to this day...

VS