The National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority for the United Arab Emirates (Tanmia) has stressed the importance of higher education becoming responsive to the needs of today's job market, in order to make nationals of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries more suitable for jobs in the private sector.
Presenting a paper on the 'preparedness for the job market for the graduates rolled out by educational institutions' at the 13th GCC Civil Service Departments' convention in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, recently, Director of Career Guidance for Tanmia, Abdulla Al Marzouki highlighted the deficiencies of the education systems in direct relationship to the job market, based on a study conducted by Tanmia's Centre for Labour Market Research & Information.
'We have the responsibility to guide our nationals to take up employment in the public and private sectors. For the UAE this is all the more important because the population composition is such that there are more females than males. Our policies should be aimed at providing employment to women,” Al-Marzouki said.
The imbalance in the education system in the GCC is reflected in the large number of graduates in human sciences who cannot find suitable employment. This is true of several other specializations which have no direct relevance to the job market, creating frustration among educated nationals.
The study further recommends that the public sector should have developed new concepts based on modern management systems. The workforce needs to be trimmed with a focus on decentralization. It should have adopted the concept of smaller workgroups.
Al-Mazrouki also stressed the importance for job-specific training for graduates, with a focus on proficiency in English and Information Technology. He said that the graduates should also be taught about professional attitude to work and the demands of the modern workplace, so that they are able to take up jobs both at the private and government companies. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
