DEVELOPING “7/20/7” EMPLOYABILITY STRATEGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN MENA REGION

Abstract

Enhancing Universities’ students’ competences and employability skills to become ready for the job market after graduation has become a core global objective for Higher Education Institutions (HEI) around the world in general and MENA region in particular as the rapid increase of unemployment rates due to Covid-19 and the digital transformation worldwide has had the most profound impact on the MENA region. Education and employment will no longer be seen as two separate functions or phases of a young person’s life, but a continuation of each other. With education being a precursor to employment, and employment a continuation of learning and development in the form of skill sets and experience. Moving towards this new paradigm requires using skills ecosystems including university faculty, companies, government, and students to adopt a mindset geared towards cultivating employment skills as early on in university formation as possible, integrating these into learning outcomes.  Both academics and practitioners have recognised the value and importance of employability skills of success in the competitive business world and employability skills as being essential to long-term success for university graduates who should possess non-technical skills and knowledge than ever before. This paper proposes “7/20/7 Higher Education Strategy” for supportive and enabling employability initiatives including 7 Strategies, 20 Objectives can be achieved along with designated 7 Key Performance Indicators (KPI).