Arab countries have invested in their university systems in recent years but failed to make sure graduates would have jobs, a dynamic that has helped trigger the protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere, reports The Wall Street Journal, echoing studies over the last decade by the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations Development Program in cooperation with the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development.
In Egypt, for example, the percentage of college-educated people has grown steadily as the country expanded access to higher education. According to the World Bank, 14 percent of college-age Egyptians were enrolled in higher education in 1990, but by 2008 that figure was almost 30 percent. But the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported last year that there had been an excess of students in the humanities and social sciences and that businesses complain they cannot find qualified applicants to fill vacant positions.
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2 Responses to Disconnect Between Education and Jobs Helps Fuel Arab Unrest
physicsprof - February 7, 2011 at 3:38 pm
“Excess of students in the humanities and social sciences?” “Disconnect Between Education and Jobs?” Didn’t our humanities colleagues explained that the value of education extends far beyond the minute goal of finding a job?
rsmulcahy - February 8, 2011 at 2:51 pm
Is that supposed to be a sarcastic jab at the humanities/social sciences? Can’t tell if that is a serious statement or not. If it is, I think it is a little myopic. Maybe in the developed West some of us have the the opportunity (and privilege) to consider the value of education in and of itself and not sully our hands with the dirty business of making a living. In many countries around the world, including the US, finding a job is not a “minute” goal. And the huge rates of unemployment in the “Arab world” and elsewhere are a major source of domestic and international unrest and violence. Anyway, the above perspective on education, which seems reminiscent of a “let them eat cake attitude” towards the people of Egypt and elsewhere is not going to help anything in the developing nations.