RIYADH: A total of 88.8 percent of young Saudi women in the Kingdom want to continue their college education, a local survey has found.

Data was gathered from universities in the country’s 13 regions. The survey sought to determine their major priorities, including how they viewed events in Arab and Islamic countries, and views on Saudi society, the future, partners and leisure activities.

About 55.6 percent of the women surveyed said that continuing education was their first priority and 38.1 percent said the desire to pursue a university education was an impediment to marriage.

The poll results also showed that young women who had graduated from high school immediately enrolled in college for a degree. The researchers have recommended that the government draw up a strategy to help young Saudi men and women face the future.

This should be done in collaboration with the Presidency of Youth Welfare in accordance with the national vision, they said. Jobs should also be provided for young people so that they become productive members of society, they said.

They also suggested that the youth undergo training so that they can find jobs because of the negative consequences of being unemployed. The survey included university students between the ages of 18 and 26 years. The areas covered included the southern region covering Najran and Abha, eastern region including Dammam and Hafr Al-Batin, western region covering Jeddah and Makkah, northern region including Hail and central region covering Riyadh and Qassim.