In an earlier post in 2009, I highlighted the poor quality of IT graduates in Jordan, both in knowledge and practice terms. I supported my case with Global Services Index of A.T.Kearney
In 2008-2009 we went up the ladder very slowly, from rank 14 to 13, which I believe was not enough at that time, taking into consideration that Jordan is one of the leading, if not the only, country to ride the technology off-shoring wave in the region. The major cause that was pulling us down was people skills, we ranked 36th.
I was wrong! Relatively that was an achievement!
According to A.T. Kearney 2011 report, we hit it down severely! We are down to rank 22. Jordan – side by side with Canada – had the largest drop of 13 marks. In terms of people skills we went down by 11 records, which mean with time, we’re doing worse in terms of people skills and availability.
Availability? How come? We actually have a high rate of unemployment between IT graduates that pushed the government to carry out programs like GIP, where the government pays half of the salary for one year.
This means that people are available, but they are not skillful enough. Why? It’s definitely the educational system, which I believe is the root of all evils.
I believe all actions done in the last few years were not effective and well-studied. We were focusing in fixing the consequences, but leaving the root cause to generate more issues with time! Higher rates of unemployment among IT graduates is not because there are no opportunities, but because of lack of skills.
I believe that, I was very optimistic by saying that we still have time to adjust! I started to believe it might be too late as every year the off-shoring market is getting more stabilized and many countries have already secured their place in the front seats.
Isn’t it the right time to reconsider our educational policies? Shouldn’t we focus on quality and not quentity? Wouldn’t it be wiser to spend the money on enhancing the educational system, rather than luring companies to hire unemployed graduates by paying half of the salary?
I’ll leave the answer to you…
Ala' Yasin Abuhijleh 