Details

Although universities, both in the Gulf and Europe, abundantly produce young, talented graduates, employers frequently complain about a blatant mismatch between their skills and actual labour market needs. In conjunction with a redesign of current curriculums, there are three major challenges educators, students, and employers need to address to balance this mismatch.

First, a shift towards practice-oriented knowledge transfer is required. Students should be exposed to real-world experience from an early stage onwards, paving the road for further on-the-job training. We thus need “practitioner faculties”, which endorse co-curricular activities, such as student societies, part-time work, entrepreneurial schemes, volunteering, and internships.

Second, women’s workforce participation is essential. Currently, high percentages of women with higher education remain unemployed. Given the proven significance of labour force diversification as well as human capital development to ensure a country’s economic and social progress, it is highly relevant to discuss ways to successfully absorb female graduates into the workforce.

Lastly, university graduates need to expand their soft skills and work ethics – surveys in both in Saudi Arabia and Germany reveal employers’ dissatisfactions with graduates’ lack of essential skills, such as communication, teamwork, critical and creative thinking, problem solving, and motivation. Those interpersonal skills, however, are highly sought after in demanding and competitive work environments, where constructive interaction with customers, colleagues, and superiors is key.

Embracing these challenges, this panel discussion will provide a platform for cross-regional dialogue to explore innovative solutions and exchange best practices. It will comprise short expert-presentations followed by a moderated panel discussion and a Q&A session. From the German side, Secretary of State (off duty) Dr Annette Niederfranke, Director of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) representation to Germany, will contribute her labour-market-expertise; Professor Dr Isabell Welpe, Academic Director of the Bavarian State Institute for Higher Education Research and Planning (IHF), will provide valuable insight into educational issues. Both will be complemented by Saudi counterparts in their respective fields of expertise. With the event Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, in cooperation with Alagat and the German Embassy in Riyadh, aims at contributing to the public debate on social and economic issues and seeks to foster dialogue between Saudi and German experts. The panel discussion is the fourth event of this kind, which Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung organises in the Kingdom.