Education in Saudi Arabia is still not sufficient to match the requirements of the labor market, especially for the Saudi private sector. Graduates need the right skills as required by the labor market, and those without these skills who focus on more general social sciences will be at a disadvantage.
The answer is not more colleges and universities, but rather, to guide more students toward degrees in technical and vocational fields that will match their training with the demands of the labor market.
The data indicate that about 76 percent of high school graduates have been accepted at Saudi universities last year, compared to 56 percent that have been accepted at universities in countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). However, the data also suggest that the rate of enrollment in technical and vocational education in the Kingdom is less than 9 percent, compared with the more than 40 percent in countries of the OECD.
Currently, more than 53 per cent of students in higher education are engaged in the disciplines of the humanities or other educational disciplines, which do not conform with the requirements of the labor market. Greater involvement of students in technical and professional disciplines or natural sciences will make the Kingdom a competitive economy in the 21st century, but until this happens, Saudi schools must offer professional and technical material in addition to math and science in general education.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia’s higher education system must restructure the admissions process for Saudi universities. With 33 universities in the Kingdom in addition to an e-university, Saudi Arabia needs more technical and vocational programs as options for student applicants. It should also adopt a system of cooperation/bridging between these technical colleges and four-year universities so that high school students can later apply/transfer the credits they have earned in technical programs toward the successful completion of their undergraduate bachelor degrees.
Painful truth
The painful truth is that Saudi education is lacking. 52 percent of students in the kingdom did not go to pre-primary education. Only Azerbaijan is worse in this regard! And, according to the latest International Mathematics results for 2011, we find that the collection of the fourth grade students (ages 9-10) in Saudi Arabia is one of the lowest in the GCC, ahead of only Yemen. For the average first-grade students (ages 13-14), Saudi Arabia occupies one of the lowest ranks, ahead of only Palestine! To compete in the labor market in Saudi Arabia and around the world, Saudi education must face these painful truths and make needed reforms in its education.
Dr. John Sfakianakis is the Chief Investment Strategist of MASIC, the Riyadh-based investment and asset management company. At MASIC he is responsible for managing the company’s investment portfolios and strategy, across multiple sharia compliant asset classes. He joined in February 2013.
Previously, he held the post of Chief Economic Advisor at the Saudi Ministry of Finance. He also served as Chief Economist for Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF) and also Chief Economist, Middle East North Africa region for Credit Agricole C.I.B, the foreign joint-venture partner of BSF. He served as the Chief Economist of The Saudi British Bank (SABB) in Riyadh, a joint venture with HSBC and also worked for Samba Financial Group as its Chief Regional Economist. He has also worked for the United Nations (UNDP) and the World Bank as an economist in Washington, D.C.
His articles appear frequently in the Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Arabic on the Saudi news website Aleqtisadiah. SUSTG.org is pleased to feature this analysis and commentary by Dr. Sfakianakis as translated from his weekly columns.
