Private education outcomes and employment opportunities in Iraq...costs of repercussions and containment mechanisms

Abstract

The research problem lies in the fact that Iraq's upcoming demographic boom will create a large youth population, while the capacity of economic activities in both the public and private sectors to provide employment will decline. This will exacerbate the imbalance in educational outputs, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in the absence of proactive planning for educational outcomes, particularly in private education. The research adopts the hypothesis that the lack of a sound planning mechanism to align educational outputs, especially from private education, with the needs of the workforce for graduates has led to a decrease in the quality of learners and an increase in the number of graduates unqualified for employment needs. The importance of the research stems from analyzing the relationship between education and employment requirements amidst the worsening imbalance between labour supply and demand, which has led to a decline in the capacity to absorb large numbers of graduates. The research aims to offer proposals to reduce graduate unemployment, determine the extent to which the quantity and quality of graduates meet employment requirements in order to improve the quality of education, and propose appropriate solutions to the problems arising from the mismatch between private education and employment requirements. One of the most important conclusions of the research is the lack of studies that anticipate the capacity to employ graduates, meaning that the expansion of student admissions in private universities lacks the corresponding employment opportunities. One of the most important recommendations is the need to align the employment requirements of public and private sector institutions with the Central Admissions Department at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, by accepting the planned numbers of students submitted by public and private universities.