Gulf market lacks suitable graduates

RIYADH: Higher education institutions in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are not producing enough graduates needed by the region’s labor market, according to educators and experts.
This was the conclusion drawn by these participants at a workshop entitled “The suitability of education outcomes to the needs of the labor market,” organized by the Ministry of Education on the sidelines of the 18th meeting of GCC Ministers of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Riyadh recently.
The participants discussed various measures to help meet this demand in the GCC, which included increasing the capacity of academic and training institutions. There was also a discussion on the size of the labor market and changing economic and other developments in the region and globally.
Many participants said that it was important that the education sector kept pace with the labor market to remain competitive in the global economy. There was also discussion on how expatriate workers were impacting on the job market, particularly in the private sector.