AMMAN — Demand by university graduates for
vocational training is increasing considerably amid spiking numbers of
unemployed graduates and the persisting problem of incompatibility of
educational outputs with labor market needs.
اضافة اعلان
In the absence of real plans and projects to address
this worrying challenge, the number of unemployed university graduates will
continue to increase, exacerbating poverty, labor market watchers say.
Hayat Abdul Raheem, 30, who studied medical analysis
and graduated from the
University of Jordan in 2014, told
Jordan News that “I applied through the Civil Service Bureau, and waited for a long time
and did not get a job”.
“After that, I joined the Vocational Training
Corporation to be trained in the field of management, and started my small
project that finally secured me a livelihood,” she added.
Had she not taken that “smart step”, she said, “I
might still be unemployed.”
Mahmoud Abu Jafar, who studied to become an engineer
and graduated in 2019, told
Jordan News that “I went to vocational
training as soon as I graduated, because I knew that I would not find a job
immediately, so I preferred to gain some skills and experience”.
According to him, “companies and employers require
new graduates to have experience in order to hire them, and this is perhaps one
of the most important and prominent reasons for the high unemployment rates”.
“Experience comes after work, and if there are not
enough job opportunities, then how can we gain experience? Perhaps the only
solution is to go to vocational training to enhance skills and gain experience,
and look for a job after that,” he noted.
Abu Jafar pointed out that “the culture of shame
constitutes an obstacle to those who want to join vocational training, as the
prevailing belief is still that youths, upon graduating from university, must
work in their specialization and for a reasonable salary.”
It is not just university graduates that turn to
vocational training, however. Young men and women who could not pursue higher
education, because of the difficult economic circumstances, also turn to it in
the hope of finding employment.
Rana, 29, who works as a hairdresser, told
Jordan
News that ”vocational training was the best choice I made when I lost hope
that I will be able to pursue university education and find a job that suits
me”.
Lacking the financial means to pursue university
studies, “despite my love and passion for studying, I stopped learning in the
10th grade”.
“I had a great hobby in hairdressing and everything
related to hair and makeup, and one of my friends suggested that I should join
vocational training in order to enhance my skills in this field, which I did,”
she said.
Now she works “at one of the well-known salons and
set aside money, little by little, so that I can complete my university
education in the future or open my own business”.
According to the head of the Workers’ House, Hamada
Abu Nijmeh, however, “the move among university degree holders to receive
training in vocational training institutions remains low”.
While there are 130,000 graduates from universities,
intermediate colleges and other educational programs annually, there are only
35,000 to 40,000 job opportunities in the private and public sectors annually,
he said.
Abu Nijmeh said that students should choose their
undergraduate majors carefully, and work on acquiring professional skills,
enrolling in different courses “so that they can enter the labor market and
keep pace with the needs of the market”.
According to
Ministry of Labor spokesman Jamil Al-Qadi, university degree holders, “having
found out that the market needs specific skills, besides university degrees,
are moving to vocational and technical training to acquire the needed skills”.
Proof of this is the fact that the number of
certificate holders who enroll in the Vocational Training Corporation “has
increased year after year”, said Qadi, who noted that the
Vocational Training Corporation provides guidance to students, and conducts periodic tours of all
schools in the Kingdom in the months of August, September, February and March.
Mohammad Bakeer, director of a private vocational
training center, told
Jordan News that a small group of university
degree holders “wants to completely change their majors and receive vocational
training in order to acquire certain skills”.
He added that “youths who majored in engineering and
alternative energy sources, in particular, undergo training courses in order to
enhance their practical experience.”
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