Education minister targets skills gap

DUBAI // The Minister of Higher Education has launched a new department to address the country’s growing skills gap.

Universities and industry must work together to collect data to overcome the concern, which has reached the highest levels of government, the minister said.

Speaking at the UAE Public Policy Forum on Monday, Dr Ahmad Belhoul said that a gap existed between Emirati “graduates and the needs of the job market. Forty per cent of students have skills which aren’t needed in the market”.

The minister created the new department in the ministry with the aim of better directing graduates towards the types of jobs the country requires.

“Are graduates working in the fields they are studying? Are they working in the public or private sector?

“These are the questions we must ask and we need to collect data and knowledge. We should have follow-up with the graduates,” Dr Belhoul said. “This department focuses on the skills gap to study the situation and to read the needs of the job market.”

A centre for higher education data and statistics was established in 2012 but staffing issues led to its demise about two years later. The database, as it was envisioned, would have been an invaluable tool for policy-makers and researchers, collecting data on areas from Emirati enrolment to graduation data and research activity.

Ahmad Abdulla bin Byat, vice chairman of Dubai Holding, said “data is really urgent”.

“I regularly participate in forums such as this and people often speak of the lack of data and statistical reports we have on students and graduates,” he said.

“All our data is operational and we need more than that. We need data to make intelligent, strategic planning and decision-making.”

Mr bin Byat said it was up to government and industry to state their needs, because the jobs market was constantly changing. “Ten years ago we needed accountants, paediatricians, surgeons, but that gap got bigger and bigger,” he said.

The moderator of the panel was dean of the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government, Prof Raed Awamleh, who said students must be better trained for the jobs of the future.

“Sixty five per cent of students will be working in jobs not available now,” he said.

Dr Essa Al Bastaki, president of the University of Dubai, agreed that data was key. “We need to make further studies to stand behind the gaps,” he said.

Dr Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, executive director of Abu Dhabi Education Council and a dermatologist, used medicine as an example. “Thirty per cent of medical students are dermatologists and 40 per cent are dentists, but we have a lack of intensive-care doctors. We need to minimise these gaps,” he said.

Dr Belhoul identified skills such as team building and critical thinking as missing in graduates. “Now the market has more requirements, there have to be other skills. Students must self-develop themselves, meaning continuing education, which was at one time considered for older people but it’s for everyone now ... the private sector looks for excellent graduates so we must raise awareness that things are changing ... thirty years ago 90 per cent of Emiratis worked in the public sector. We expect many of the Emirati graduates of the future to work in the private sector. It’s a quantum leap.”

The sentiments of the minister echo calls for change from the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Last Wednesday, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who is also Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, told an audience of students that the UAE will need generations of engineers and scientists as it shifts from oil towards a knowledge-based economy.

The day before, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the foreign minister, told students: “If you want to participate in shaping the future then you need to stop thinking of a government job.

“No other country in the region supports youth-led projects like the UAE. It is one of the easiest countries to set up and run a business, so start your own business.”