Saudi Gazette report TAIF — Scholarship students who have completed their education and returned home are complaining of difficulties in finding employment. Despite the trumpeted Saudization drive, there are still around 20,000 expatriates working in the Kingdom's universities alone, Al-Madinah newspaper reported recently citing some of the returning graduates. Employers pose many employment conditions, such as age and experience requirements, which cannot be met by these graduates. These requirements are not applied to expatriate employees, prompting calls for employment to be handled centrally. Fahad Al-Sharari, who holds a bachelor's degree in education and a master's in computer programing from Britain, applied for a job at Al-Jouf University. His application was rejected because the university does not accept graduates at its college of education as faculty members. He later discovered that a graduate was employed at the college nevertheless. He took his grievance to the head of Al-Jouf University who promised him justice if he could prove his claim. Al-Sharari said he did provide the necessary proof, but was still ignored by the university. He said his specialization is required in the university and claimed there was an expatriate professor teaching computer programming while holding a degree in physics. Salwa Al-Sumhi graduated with an MBA from Queensland University in Australia and has been searching for work in the government and private sectors for over a year. She applied to many universities but was rejected because she holds a bachelor's degree in a different major to her master's. She said there are many expatriates who hold degrees in different majors and are teaching outside their specialties. She applied to the Civil Services Directorate over a year ago but has yet to receive a reply. She called for the implementation of a royal decree that orders the immediate replacement of expatriates with Saudis. Nafei Al-Shibani, a political science graduate and unemployment activist, called for the implementation of directives and laws facilitating the replacement of expatriate employees with Saudis. He said employers are not applying minimum employment requirements and claimed that universities are not applying their tough criteria on everybody. He claimed that Saudization requirements were being neglected by universities that were employing expatriates in faculty positions even though there were Saudis who could fill those positions. He said the latest statistics by the Ministry of Higher Education show that universities have 18,357 expatriates in their employ, of which 13,939 are assistant professors or below. He said universities are also extending contracts of Saudis and expatriates who have reached the retirement age, claiming that there are no qualified Saudis to replace them. Ameena Ahmad graduated with a master's degree in social services from Al-Azhar University in Egypt with an excellent average. She applied for a position at King Faisal University but was rejected because her bachelor's degree average was not good enough. She went back to Egypt and obtained her PhD and she was first in her group. She then applied for a lecturer position at King Faisal University, but was again rejected because she was over the university's maximum age limit of 33. She said employment priority should be given to Saudis. Mohammad Mufti, an economics professor, said returning scholarship students have better chances of employment than the rest of society, The problem lies with them refusing the salaries offered or the position titles, which they believe are not good enough for them. The purpose of scholarships is twofold, he said. Firstly, they deal with the increasing number of secondary students graduates who cannot find places at universities in the Kingdom. The second is to develop Saudi society because these graduates gain the skills to match and compete with expatriates. He believed that graduates do not prefer to work in the private sector due to the low salaries or the unsuitability of the positions available. The government sector is characterized by bureaucracy and the lack of trust in graduates' qualifications, he said. He claimed the government has taken good steps toward facilitating the employment of graduates. The expansion of e-learning has provided jobs for master's and PhD holders to work as faculty members. The head of the Taif Chamber of Commerce Nayef Al-Odwani called on the Ministry of Higher Education to maintain a database of graduates and to conduct employment fairs. Consultant psychiatrist Dr. Hamed Al-Ghamdi said unemployment has negative social and psychological effects. Society views the unemployed as unproductive and dependent on their families.
