The Role of Co-Operative Education: An Effective Strategy to Tackle the Unemployment Rate among University Graduates in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

According to the latest statistics 1.5 million students are currently enrolled in universities in Saudi Arabia and the enrollment is expected to reach 04 million by the year 2025 (ICEF Monitor, 2018). With the rapidly growing number of graduates entering the job market every year, the unemployment rate among the university graduates has become a pressing concern for the society and the Saudi Arabian government. The main aim of the current study is to examine the role of cooperative education in reducing the unemployment rate among university graduates in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study is based on a thorough analysis of the body of literature on cooperative education, exploring its role in student development and understanding the factors affecting employability of university graduates. Secondary data related to the number of graduate students passed in past three batches (Viz. 2021, 2022 and 2023) and the employment rate was collected from the College of Business Administration, King Saud University. Further, survey by questionnaire method was used to collect primary data from 116 university graduates for testing proposed hypotheses. Simple random sampling was used to select the respondents from the pool of the student data obtained from the varsity. Descriptive analysis was employed to analyse the seconday data and Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was performed to test the various causal relationships between exogenous, intermediate and endogenous variables. The study found that there is a significant positive impact of the quality and effectiveness of training program on critical thinking & problem analysis, adaptation to work environment, commitment & sense of responsibility, professional networking opportunity and communication skills of the Saudi graduates. It signifies the positive role played by the cooperative training programs in making management graduates industry ready. The study also found that critical thinking & problem analysis, adaptation to work environment, commitment & sense of responsibility, professional networking opportunity and communication skills has significant positive impact on the chance of employability. Communication skills was reported as the strongest antecedent of the chance of employability and also the top outcome of the cooperative training program.

The study emphasizes that cooperative education programs play a significant role in reducing the unemployment among university graduates by developing symbiotic connection between education & industry and empowering the students with required skills necessary to flourish in competitive job market. To fully achieve the benefits, strategic investment and collaborative efforts of academia and industry are necessary to design sustainable training programs that are consistent with the continuously evolving needs of the Saudi Arabian economy. The study provides valuable insights and roadmap for academicians, policy makers and industry for collaborative actions to tackle the rising unemployment issues in economy.