Education in the Arab world is a mixture of good and bad news. On one hand, literacy continues to improve across the region, with some countries progressing more than others. On the other hand, the Arab world continues to lag behind most of the world and is producing citizens ill-equipped to participate in the rapidly evolving global market. As a result, structural unemployment is a major dilemma. Educational reform is urgently needed.
The higher education sector is growing in most of the 22 Arab countries. This expansion tends to be the result of a combination of private and public initiatives geared toward educating the growing youth population in each country. Yet, with the exception of a few isolated cases, the vast majority of these institutions lack the necessary quality of instruction, independent leadership and progressive curricula that would train students to complement the needs of potential employers.
A study compiled by the International Ranking Experts Group and the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington ranked only one Arab university on a list of 3,000 universities worldwide – and it was at bottom of the list. It is not hard to conclude that Arab universities are not meeting international standards.
Arab graduates find themselves at an increasing disadvantage as they seek entry into their respective labor markets, where their skills are often mismatched with the needs of the marketplace.
For example, in Saudi Arabia, approximately 5.5 million foreign workers play an essential role in the Saudi economy – particularly in the service and oil sectors. Yet despite the government s aggressive policy to encourage the employment of Saudi nationals, the official (and persistent) unemployment rate of Saudi males is 13 percent, and many independent experts believe that the rate may be as high as 25 percent. The substantial investment over many years undertaken by the Saudi government has not yielded satisfactory returns. The Saudi results are similar to the results in affluent Gulf nations. Statistics indicate that graduates are often not capable of integrating successfully into national economies. Leaders must question the relevance of the educational experiences they are providing.
Improving higher education in the Arab world will rest on reforming curricula and raising teachers expectations of students, not only at the university level, but also at the elementary and secondary school levels. As numerous international standardized tests continue to demonstrate, Arab students in primary and secondary schools are scoring among the lowest 20th percentile when it comes to math and science.
The elementary public school results are by far the worst. The chance that a public school student from Cairo, Damascus, or Khartoum will emerge as a corporate leader or specialized physician is extremely low. Considering the substantial amounts that many of these governments already spend on education, these dismal results and indicators are simply alarming and require immediate action.
Not only must the curricula be realigned in favor of math and science, but teachers should also be held accountable for their students performance.
One explanation for the poor math and science scores of Arab students is that teachers expectations are too low. As Arab leaders continue to seek ways to improve education, questioning the quality of teachers becomes essential. Are the vast majority of teachers qualified to be entrusted with the education of future generations?
Probably not. The recruitment and training of a new cadre of first-rate teachers who are well compensated requires serious deliberation.
In recent years, the Arab world has seen a dramatic growth of private universities. Jordan, for example, has at least 12 private universities. These recently established colleges will allow middle-income countries to rely more on private sources for expenditures on higher education. However, privatizing alone is not the answer. Like public institutions, these private entities must be held accountable to produce students who meet national needs. Governments, perhaps on a regional level, will need to create performance standards that will allow educational institutions, whether private or public, to reach minimum levels of quality.
Eradicating illiteracy was an important mission of the post-colonial Arab world. The Arabs have made a serious dent on that front. Although about 70 million Arabs remain illiterate, that number is quickly decreasing. Yet, there is a difference between educating to achieve literacy and providing quality education. By and large, the Arab world has not yet transformed their educational systems from focusing on literacy into a system with the institutions necessary to integrate their young people into their own labor markets and to push their countries into the competitive global arena.
As Arab policy makers continue to address future development plans, they must focus on reforming and improving their educational institutions. Failure to do so will undoubtedly increase the millions of hopelessly unemployed who may threaten regional stability. Addressing educational reform must be a priority, today.
James H. Roth, vice president for health and education consulting at the Huron Consulting Group in Chicago, provides consulting services to educational institutions in the United States, the Middle East and Asia. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and can be accessed at www.commongroundnews.org.
