Articles
December 2011, Pages 58-59
Education
Mideast Universities Face Challenge Of Unemployed Graduates
Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies hosted Dr. Joseph Jabbra, president of Lebanese American University (LAU), for a Sept. 21 discussion on "The State of Higher Education in the Middle East." Moderator Dr. Judith Tucker guided a conversation that focused on the role of American universities in the region.
Dr. Jabbra began by outlining what he called the three "true American institutions" in place right now—the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo, and the LAU—which provide a much desired American education to young Arabs, and also help serve and meet the challenges of society in their respective countries.
The number of American-style institutions and branches of U.S. universities in the Middle East is mushrooming, Dr. Tucker noted. Their popularity stems from a universal desire of all parents: the best education for their children. Often parents will insist on an American higher education for their children despite their personal opinions about U.S. policies, Jabbra added. They're looking for inclusive institutions that do not discriminate against gender, religion, politics or ethnicity. These schools offer a well-rounded education for the "whole person," along with a notion of service and a strong ethical compass.
Lately college graduates in the Arab world cannot find jobs—just like their American counterparts. "The focus initially was to educate people to have jobs in the government," Jabbra explained, "but things have changed and governments are saturated with graduates…institutions have not changed to grapple with the changes in society."
Jabbra went on to list some of the challenges institutions need to address, including the number of uneducated women, how to get schools to meet the needs of society and, most importantly, how students will face future changes. He then asked himself the very question that every college president should: "How can we make sure the quality of our education meets the needs of the young people?"
One challenge the Middle East faces in the coming 15 years will be to provide 100 million jobs for the 60 percent of the population which is under 25 right now. According to Dr. Jabbra, the top three American institutions are meeting that challenge, and their graduates are getting jobs and going on to "make an impact on the education question."
Another challenge is societal pressure for young people to become doctors and engineers, which creates a glut in those areas and leaves a deficit in such critical fields as political science, government and international relations. The top schools put quotas on class sizes for degrees that are oversaturated, Dr. Jabbra said, although he admitted this does little to sway the demand that society, and parents, have for those particular professions.
—Alex Begley
