Are you satisfied with UAE college education?

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Nearly all UAE respondents (95 per cent) are satisfied with the quality of college education they have received/ are receiving, according to a survey released on Sunday.

The survey conducted by Bayt.com and YouGov Siraj found that 30 per cent of UAE respondents were very satisfied, 47 per cent were satisfied, and 18 per cent were somewhat satisfied. Only five per cent were dissatisfied and none were very dissatisfied.
 
Overall in the region, 27 per cent of respondents were very satisfied, 40 per cent satisfied, 24 per cent somewhat satisfied, seven per cent dissatisfied and two per cent very dissatisfied with the quality of their college education.
 
Respondents in Tunisia and Lebanon reported the highest satisfaction with their education, with 39 per cent and 38 per cent respectively saying they were very satisfied. Egypt and Morocco reported the largest number of ''very dissatisfied'' respondents with each country reaching levels of 4 per cent.
 
When asked about the impact of their education on their career development, 23 per cent of UAE respondents said that their educational background has completely prepared them to target their industry of choice. 28 per cent said this was true ''to a large extent'' and 33 per cent said ''only to some extent''.
 
Only seven per cent said their educational background hardly prepared them and only 4 per cent said it had not prepared them at all.
 
Overall in the Mena region, 21 per cent of respondents said that their educational background has completely prepared them to target their industry of choice, 22 per cent said ''to a large extent'', 33 per cent said ''only to some extent'', nine per cent said ''hardly'' and six per cent said ''not at all''.
 
Among the countries surveyed, Qatar had the highest level of satisfaction with 29 per cent of respondents saying that their educational background has completely prepared them to target their industry of choice and 26 per cent saying that it has ''to a large extent''.
 
"The figures are interesting because they show that against the current backdrop of challenging economic conditions, respondents are still very satisfied with the education they are receiving. This can be an indication of many things including higher quality education systems, increased alignment of the region's higher education institutions with the needs of the local workplace and a sharper focus by students on studies that directly correlate with the local workplace" commented Rabea Ataya, Chief Executive Officer, Bayt.com.
 
According to the report, the most appealing industries to respondents from a career point of view were Banking /Finance (20 per cent), IT (20 per cent) and Engineering (16 per cent) followed by Business Management (14 per cent), Telecommunications (14 per cent), Education (13 per cent), Oil & petrochemicals (13 per cent).
 
Human resources (10 per cent), Electronics (10 per cent) and Airline (9 per cent) were also listed. In the UAE, the most appealing industries were banking (22 per cent) and IT (21 per cent). The least appealing were the airline (10 per cent) and electronics (eight per cent) sectors.
 
Overall, the report found that the top three industries hiring the most were Banking/Finance (27 per cent), IT (18 per cent), and Education Institutions (15 per cent). The least was the Business Management. Consultancy sector (10 per cent). In the UAE, the top recruiting industries were Banking (29 per cent) and Property/Construction development (21 per cent) indicating construction is still a priority in the country despite the real estate crash.
 
The report found that the majority of Mena respondents (72 per cent) were looking into opportunities for further education. To pursue their education, most respondents considered going to the UK (33 per cent), the US (31 per cent), and Canada (29 per cent) while 18 per cent considered the UAE. In the UAE, the majority (43 per cent) considered staying in the country for further education followed by 37 per cent who considered going to the UK.
 
"We see more and more people in the MENA region looking to further their education. This is an indication of the region's development. As countries evolve, their citizens seek to further improve themselves and put more emphasis on education," said Sundip Chahal, Chief Operating Officer of YouGov Siraj.

The report also found that 4 out of 10respondents (currently employed) found a job within 3 months of completing their education. The majority of respondents (77 per cent) were willing to consider relocation for employment purposes. The most preferred relocation countries were the UAE (56 per cent), followed by KSA (45 per cent), Qatar (38 per cent) and Kuwait (32 per cent).

Of those surveyed, 65 per cent were considering setting up their own business in the future. Higher consideration was seen amongst respondents in Syria (81 per cent) followed by Oman (78 per cent). In the UAE, 64 per cent of respondents were considering setting up their own business. Of those considering setting up their own business, the preferred sectors were IT (13 per cent), Engineering/Design (nine per cent), and Business/ Management Consultancy (eight per cent).

When asked about benefits expected from a job, respondents in the MENA region answered that apart from basic salary (78 per cent), bonus (45 per cent) and personal medical insurance (40 per cent) were expected. In the UAE, salary expectations (87 per cent) were at the top followed by bonus (54 per cent) and personal medical insurance (48 per cent). Housing allowance was also highly expected at 46 per cent.

Salary expectations differed in various countries. Respondents in the UAE and Qatar expected a much higher salary in comparison to others, with 24 per cent and 27 per cent respectively expecting $2,001 to $3,000 salaries as opposed to only 10 per cent of countries expecting that range overall. Egypt and Jordan had the lowest expectations with both countries indicating only 3% of respondents expecting salaries in that range.
 
The report also found that the majority of respondents (87 per cent) in the MENA region were optimistic that they would find a job. However, the report also found that most colleges (70 per cent) do not provide suitable job opportunities for their students. More than half of respondents (62 per cent) were also reported to have acquired previous work experience during or before their college years with 34 per cent having experience of more than 24 months.
 
When asked about what skills were required to succeed in the work place, respondents stated that linguistic skills (40 per cent) were the most important, followed by computer skills (26 per cent) and leadership skills (24 per cent).
 
Analytical (22 per cent), communication (22 per cent) and interpersonal (16 per cent) skills were also on the list. In the UAE, the highest rated skills were linguistic (36 per cent) and leadership (29 per cent).

Overall, 67 per cent of Mena respondents were optimistic that today's generation has more career and education opportunities than their parent's generation. In the UAE, 46 per cent of respondents were very optimistic that today's generation has better career and education opportunities compared to only 21 per cent of respondents from Egypt who shared this sentiment.
 
Data for the research report was collected online between July 25 to August 15 with 5,996 respondents from the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Pakistan. Students and fresh graduates aged over 18 years old, of all nationalities, were included in the survey.

© Emirates 24|7 2010