Bridging the gap: Sana’a University guides graduates into the labor market

(L- R) Irina Shaorshadze and Abdullah al-Mutarreb during one of the lecture.

Three thousand students from 16 secondary schools in Sana’a attended a three-day forum concluded last week at Sana’a University to discuss the importance of choosing the right majors in their university studies and meeting the demands of the labor market in Yemen.

Vice-President of Sana’a University for Students’ Affairs, Dr Abdul-Karim al-Sobari, spoke about the great importance of this forum as it addresses key topics and important issues connected with the future of this young generation of males and females, who he described as the hope of this nation.
Al-Sobari said that the forum’s goals are extremely important because it allows high school students to learn first-hand about the different colleges, different university majors and how suited their majors are to the labor market.

“The University is now working on a study to advance and develop some subjects in the curriculum taught in university colleges such as Sciences, Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology,” said al-Sobari. He said that they have found that teachers are teaching in schools something quite different from what they have studied in their university. Al-Sobari then talked about a project to connect university curricula with what is being studied in high schools, so high school students are better prepared for the transition to tertiary education. 

“It is a common knowledge for us at Sana’a University that a lot of stu       dents enrolling come to the university without preparing themselves and without thinking about what will suit them best at university,” said al-Sobari who added that Sana’a University will receive 11,500 students this year. 

Al-Sobari said talented and distinctive students have support from the university, which gives a special program during the summer, sending students to other Arab universities for one-month training, and Sana’a University in return receives some students from diverse universities in the Arab world. Some students are also sent to European countries, including Germany, France and the UK.

A female student poses a question to the education experts during the forum.

Al-Sobari concluded his speech by giving a brief description of the most important activities that Sana'a University does for students and urged all students to perform well in their last year of high school.

General Manager of Sana'a’s Chamber of Commerce Industry, Mohammed al-Maitmi said that the government has put creating job opportunities for young people at the top of its priority. Al-Maitmi said that the problem is how to help the younger generation choose the right path from the beginning. "This can only happen if they are being given guidelines about the available majors, whether they are scientific, literary, social and other vocational trainings that can meet the needs and demands of the labor market in and outside Yemen," said al-Maitmi. 

Al-Maitmi added that Yemen has many companies which employ thousands of people; the bulk of who are foreigners equipped with skills that Yemeni graduates sorely lack. "We need to reverse the practice of hiring foreigners over Yemenis and this can only happen if we have competent Yemeni graduates possessing valuable skills," said al-Maitmi.

Srinivasan Thirumalai, World Bank Senior Country Economist for Yemen, expressed his delight to be among this young generation of Yemen who are to be its future leaders. Thirumalai expressed his great admiration of the forum, which he considers one of the best proposals of the Youth Innovation Fund of the World Bank. Irina Shaorshadze, consultant and coordinator of the forum, was the author of this idea.  Thirumalai said that the objective of this forum is to talk to the young generation and get a feel for their hopes and dreams. This is the first activity of its kind carried out in the city of Sana'a. 

Irina Shaorshadze then talked about the lectures, information and skills that were given to students during the three days. Students were given scientific and practical skills on the available majors and colleges at the university and their connection to the priorities and needs of the labor market. 

Dr. Ahmed al-Haddad, Professor in the College of Medicine and director of the Population Studies and Training Center at Sana'a University, gave some of the lectures to the students; Dr.Ahmed Aqabat, professor at the College of Information at Sana'a University and Abdullah al-Mutarreb, General Manager Improving Administrative Consultancies, also gave lectures.

The forum was organized by Sana'a University in cooperation with the World Bank, Yemen's Ministry of Education, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sana'a, and the Griffin Company and NIIT institute for IT.

Secretary-General of Sana'a University, Dr.Ahmed al-Yadomi and Rasheda al-Hamdani, head of National Committee for Woman also attended the forum.

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