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| INVEST IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN -
SELLING POINTS |
| A talented and productive work force |
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| From 2010, the employment market will be in deficit in the European Union, but there will still be a large surplus in the South. The demographic projections show that a drop in the employment market in the South will not make itself felt until 2015. The growth of salary costs in the MEDA countries may slow down their competitiveness, but this alone will permit the emergence of a middle class and the development of a domestic consumer market. |
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| Photo : Talented and productive work force |
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Talented and productive work force
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A high quality labour force |
Labour in the MEDA countries can be characterised by three major aspects:
- It is in majority literate, thanks to the generalised education system;
- It is often bilingual with Arabic as the base, French in the Maghreb, English in the Machrek as second language;
- States have formed an important elite of students with very high level diplomas in the universities or the engineering schools, students wishing to find a professional activity at home commensurate with the level of their training.
There is still some progress to be made as concerns training more oriented towards concrete matters and management, towards technological and scientific training adapted to business, rather than towards law or administration. But, given the employment level, the foreign investor will find here a qualified labour force, whatever his needs. Furthermore, numerous young executives would like to enter the merchant economy rather than remain in the public sector.
The public or private policies encourage young graduates to create technological businesses in the company nurseries linked either to the technological centres (Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco) or to engineering schools (Tunisia, Lebanon,.).
Network of Mediterranean incubators, the « e-Centres »:
- The Ghazala Centre – Tunisia
- Sidi Abdellah Technopôle– Algeria
- Casablanca Technopark – Morocco
- Berytech Technopôle – Lebanon
- The Egyptian Incubator Network - Egypt
- Media Pôle Marseille – France
- Sophia Antipolis Science Park - France
In the majority of the MEDA countries, the unemployment rate is high, but the situations are very heterogeneous: according to official figures, there are 32 % unemployed in Algeria; on the other hand, Malta where the unemployment rate is 4.9 %, there is a practically full-employment situation in tourism, construction or electronics. |
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A desire for training among the young |
The countries of the MENA zone (Middle East & North Africa), as defined by the World Bank, devote 5 % of their GDP to education, which is higher than that practised in other regions of the planet.
The MENA region harbours 130 million children who represent 50% of the population. But there are profound differences among the countries themselves. For example, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia have almost managed schooling for everyone. Tunisia has an especially solid reputation in educational terms; the enrolment rates are high at all levels of the system, with nearly 100% enrolment in preparatory classes and a net scholarity rate of 98% for children of primary school age in 2002/03; the equity between the sexes is good at all levels, in fact girl students are nowadays slightly more numerous than their male counterparts at higher education level.
In Morocco, the Net Scholarity Rate for children of primary school age has considerably increased from 65% in 1997/98 to 91% in 2001/02. In the same way, access to education continues to be inequitable over the whole population: while 85% of all children aged from 6 to 11 were enrolled at school in 2000/01, the rate was 70% for girls living in rural areas.
Enrolment rate in secondary system in % of class of age (Source : World Bank):
In the majority of the MEDA countries, the unemployment rate is high, but the situations are very heterogeneous: according to official figures, there are 32 % unemployed in Algeria ; on the other hand, Malta where the unemployment rate is 4.9 %, there is a practically full-employment situation in tourism, construction or electronics.
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Jordan : project for educational reform in favour of the Knowledge Economy |
In May 2003, the World Bank approved a loan of 120 million dollars to help the Jordan government to transform its educational system at pre-school, primary and secondary levels. Thanks to this loan, the students will be able to acquire the qualifications indispensable for the new knowledge economy. The integrated programme for educational reform will attempt to lift the marks of the Jordanian students in mathematics and sciences up to international levels. It will also ensure access to schools, make them adequate, and will further provide on-line training portals for the pupils in primary and secondary education. |
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Education with the knowledge economy in sight |
The countries of the MEDA region increasingly integrate the world markets and the governments recognise that it is the quality of human capital that will determine their capacity to be competitive. Tunisia, which has taken advantage of projects financed by the World Bank to back its reforms, is the country whose approach is the most advanced in the Region. Jordan has also thought long and hard about this question. The World Bank has assisted Jordan to develop an educational project involving a detailed strategy of the reform of the sector including a reform of the governance, changes in the study programmes and teacher training. |
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Country focus on training |
The training structures in the MEDA countries are very heterogeneous. The level of qualification of the teaching staff, the integration of the offer and the involvement of the enterprises and the professional organisations in the training centres are very different from one country to another.
- Lebanon. There are 40 institutions of professional and technical education in the Lebanon which train to the level of senior practical qualifications. There were 18,448 students in 2000 63 % of which were men.
- Turkey. Training in Turkey is highly specialised, there is a multiplication of sectors, a high level of privatisation and a de-concentration. The public expenses for education here are 3.3 % of GDP and the illiteracy rate was17.7 % in 1995. Secondary education in Turkey is divided into two blocks: « technical and professional » or « general » (DGSPW). The technical and professional schools train for the professions of commerce, tourism, hairdressing, ceramics, electronics, mining, foundry, construction or manufacturing production.
- Syria. Industrial technical training has numerous sectors including mechanical fabrication, metallic construction, automobile mechanics and textiles (spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing, clothing manufacturing).
- Algeria. There exist 25 university towns in Algeria and tens of institutes of technology attended by more than 100,000 students. The success rate at the Baccalaureate in 2002 was 28.6 % in general education and 38.9 % in technical education. Further, the number of girls admitted (65,625) is much higher than that of the boys (49,039), which led a representative of the Ministry to say that the democratisation of education and the emancipation of women is increasingly confirming itself within the society.
- Egypt. The World Bank has just granted a loan of 50 million dollars to Egypt for the modernisation of its educational system.. The Arab Academy trains in the professions of the sciences, technology and maritime transport. The French University Egypt, created in 2003, proposes training in languages applied to the business world, information technology and integrated management and engineering in the advanced technologies (ICT, production engineering, energy sciences, automation systems).
- Israel. The budget devoted to education reached 10 % of GNP in 2000, there are 135 scientists and engineers for 100,000 workers, which is the highest proportion anywhere in the world for higher qualifications. There exist in the country several Franco-Israeli research programmes on nanotechnology, biotechnology for agriculture, the factory of the future and immunology.
- Tunisia. The World Bank has granted a loan of 99 million dollars to Tunisia for the modernisation of its educational system. The country devotes 4.7 % of its GDP and 19.9 % of its budget to education. The literacy rate for the 15-24 year olds was 91.5 % in 2001. So as to respond to the needs of the world of industry and business a network of Higher Institutes of Technological Education (ISET) has been developed. Its role is to train senior technicians in the different technical specialities and management. The number of young people succeeding in the Baccalaureate was 55,238 in 1999/2000.
- Morocco. Professional education provides DTS training for management assistants in SMEs, management computing, international business, computer maintenance, director's secretaries. In 2002, 25,600 students obtained a higher studies diploma, 1,054 of which in technology, 3,255 in science, 524 in engineering sciences and 374 in commerce and management.
- Malta. The professional and technical institutes of Malta provide training in information and communications technology, electronics, maritime affairs, the construction professions, those of art and design and business and trade.
- Cyprus. The technical schools offer technical and professional courses of a three year duration. The branches offered are mechanics, electricity, construction and the graphic arts, building, hotels and catering, dressmaking, industrial design, furniture manufacturing, footwear and jewellery.
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