Joud Al-Amri Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Critics are accusing the Ministry of Education for the injustices and marginalization of graduates of government universities in the labor market. The critics claim that the ministry has not provided the universities with modern syllabi that will qualify the graduates to turn professionals. They claim that the graduates of government universities do not have sufficient knowledge of the English language, not armed with skills to handle modern equipment and computers, not eloquent in speech and do not give much attention to their grooming. This is contrary to what the private universities are doing. They equip their graduates with all the personal and educational qualifications required by the labor market. This makes their graduates attractive to the employers and the training companies. These graduates will have the linguistic and technological skills that make them better candidates for any job. Dr. Aisha Natto, member of the board of directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry who is also member of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, is of the opinion that education in Saudi Arabia needs much change in order to be able to provide the labor market with capable cadres. Natto, who is also a consultant for Bab Rizq Jameel, said the private universities were fairly new in the Kingdom. “They started as small colleges with few departments but soon developed their educational syllabuses and most of them became full-fledged universities,” she said. She said the private universities are well aware of the requirements of the labor market so they have established many specialized departments and have given much emphasis to the teaching of the English language. “The graduates of the private universities have thus become more qualified than their counterparts in government universities in finding jobs,” she said. Natto said that graduates of private universities display more flexibility to deal with the public and they are more capable of field work. “This has made them the targets for employers and training companies,” she said. A woman who owns a beauty shop in Jeddah, and who herself is a graduate of a government university, was against giving priority in employment to the graduates of government schools and universities. The woman, who opted not to be identified, is a graduate of King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah. “The graduates of government universities lack the skills of their counterparts in private institutions,” she said. She said her beauty salon needs qualified university graduates in the areas of human resources, management, marketing and others. The woman said that in addition to the focus on teaching English, the private universities also concentrate on organizing in-house training sessions and travels abroad for their students. “The students of the private universities usually come from liberal families who do not oppose mixing of genders,” she said. Rahaf Akeeli, a female student at KAU, said it was not the fault of the graduates of government universities. “Government schools and universities must focus on the requirements of the labor market. If the ministry remained unconcerned, the students alone will not be able to change the syllabi and therefore qualify themselves for the labor market,” she said. Khaled Al-Sihaimi, an employee at the personnel department of a private company, said priority in employment should be given to educational qualification rather and not whether the applicant is from a government or a private university. He admitted that the private universities offer better qualified graduates for the labor market. “We need graduates who are proficient in the English language and eloquent in speech otherwise we will not be able to attract customers and develop our business,” he said. Rawan Al-Abdullah, a female student at Queen Effat University, said education in government universities is very weak and does not qualify students to compete in the marketplace. “At private universities, students hold exhibitions and organize other activities which qualify them further. This is not found in the government universities,” she said. She added that private universities have progressed with time but the government ones have remained static and unimaginative.
