AMMAN — Economic fluctuations and
qualitative leaps in the world of technology have proved that a
higher education degree is no longer the only criterion for assessing an individual's
intelligence and ability to succeed in the labor market, specialists say.
اضافة اعلان
With that being the case,
universities need to seek to develop their programs to provide students with
the skills they need to enter the labor market, most agree.
... The “curricula must be consistent with the requirements of the labor market,” especially since there is “failure to implement policies on the ground.”
Ahmad Awad, founder and director of
the
Phenix Center for Economics and Informatics Studies, told
Jordan News that a
factor that could be decisive in being accepted in the labor market is skill,
and therefore, equipping students with skills should be given more attention
than teaching them theoretical subjects because the focus is on basic skills
for filling a job and not on theoretical knowledge such as programming,
management, and accounting.
He added that the private sector has
the responsibility to provide training for students, and “young people should
make an effort to develop and educate themselves.”
According to Awad, the Jordanian “education
system has many weaknesses and gaps”, and the “curricula must be consistent
with the requirements of the labor market”, especially since there is “failure
to implement policies on the ground”.
Dean of Scientific Research and
Graduate Studies at
Isra University Aysh Alhroob told
Jordan News that the
labor market today has become selective in choosing specializations, and that
if “in the past, we used to think that skill came after obtaining a certificate,
today, educational materials and skills on the Internet are available and free,
which makes it possible to have skills without a certificate”.
The German experience is a good
example of this, he said, as it prepares students to engage in the labor market
through training programs.
“We need a national program to train
students, and there should be cooperation between universities and the labor
market,” he said, adding that the “Jordanian National Qualifications Framework
has taken a step toward that in order to link students with the labor market and
build skills”.
Alhroob said that “skills come
through training in a real work environment”, stressing, however, that a “certificate
constitutes a huge knowledge base for students”.
The head of the Workers’ House,
Hamada Abu Nijmeh, told
Jordan News that economic changes and technological advances make
it incumbent on students to make an “effort to obtain the necessary skills such
as thinking, analysis, and communication”.
Abu Nijmeh said that “employers are
focusing on skills such as creativity, emotional intelligence, analytical
thinking, active learning, decision making, communication with others,
leadership, and acceptance of change” and stressed the need for students to choose
specializations wisely, to match the requirements of the
labor market, and for
universities to pay attention to scientific research and strive to develop the
students’ competencies.
Read more Features
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
