With millions of young Arabs across the region facing final exams in school, an unknown future unfolds in front of them – both exciting and terrifying. What to do next? Study or find a job? This is the dilemma.
Governments in the Mena region, one of the most youthful in the world, are also failing to provide suitable, long-term employment opportunities with half of the Arab youth unable to find jobs.
The reasons for the chronically high unemployment rates in the region are well documented – despite high levels of educational enrolment in schools, the quality of instruction and learning experience remain poor. In countries with high expatriate working populations, the competition to find meaningful and worthwhile jobs, especially in the private sector, precludes all but the best foreign-educated Emiratis.
As oil prices fell, so too did large-scale recruitment in the public sector, especially in the military and police. These days young people are being encouraged by their leaders to look towards the private sector, where many companies are owned and run by expatriates. Further education at universities is also seen as a way to secure high-paying positions in both public and private sectors.
As Arabs contemplate attending university where the medium of instruction is different from their mother tongue or working in the private sector staffed by foreigners who speak different languages and behave in different ways, many face difficult cultural border crossings from their comfort zones into alien worlds overshadowed by rumour, half-truths and mischief.
With high failure rates in universities, especially in the first year, and high attrition rates in private companies that recruit Emiratis, the question that many Arab youth may be asking themselves is this: how will I know if I am ready?
In March, two different and seemingly unrelated articles appeared in national newspapers.
In one, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, encouraged Emiratis to learn about other cultures so that they can compete and cooperate with them, while at the same time, holding fast to their own traditions and customs.
In the second article, an array of academics and recruitment professionals encouraged Emiratis to choose academic courses other than ubiquitous business studies.
Both articles discussed issues that have been raised in my articles over the past year – namely, the problem of culture and that of a lack of preparedness among youth for work and study.
It’s true that Emiratis need to learn more about the world they share with others and that a large number of them opt for business courses at university, because they are considered to be the easiest among undergraduate degree programmes that fetch high-profile and lucrative jobs. However, the country needs fewer businessmen and more chemists, engineers, physicists, teachers and writers. These positions are largely occupied by expatriates.
There is a growing awareness in many countries in the Mena region that the “youth problem” needs a long-term solution.
The frivolity of typical “quick-fixes” lay exposed by the fact that youth unemployment continues to grow in a region where 85 million new jobs will need to be created over the next decade.
Not to mention nationalisation targets are missed in many sectors, resulting in one of the lowest rates of overall nationalisation in the region.
The border crossing index questionnaire by Emarise is a reliable tool to measure the level of preparedness of Arab youth seeking to make successful border crossings into the new world.
It is based on intensive research. Its key findings may be found in an academic paper published on Al Qasimi Foundation’s website.
The research found four categories of border-crossing experiences among respondents – smooth, manageable, difficult, and impossible. In the study, students in the “difficult” or “doubtful/ impossible” categories invariably never finished their first year.
The research found congruency between those in the pre-dominantly Arabic world – associated with families, community and government schooling – and those in a largely western culture in institutes and universities was broadly related to the students’ self-perceived level of preparedness for academic study and the competence of the students in their second language, English.
Dr Peter J Hatherley-Greene is director of learning at Emarise
