Future Careers (Jobs)

The main paper was presented by Dr. Nouf Al-Ghamdi, commented on by Dr. Hamed Al-Sharari and Mr. Walid Al-Harithi, and the debate was moderated by Mr. Abdullah Al-Dhwaihi. The paper explained that the gap between the requirements of the labor market and education began to narrow somewhat through profession programs. Dr. Nouf noted that in the past there was no future map before high school graduates. Therefore, the students used to pick up disciplines just randomly. However, the matter now is that it has become different in light of the Saudi Vision 2030. There are clear future plans, and there are potential requirements for the labor market. Dr. Nouf considered that it we would not find a student who is not familiar with the Saudi Vision 2030, the plans of government and private sectors and their future functions.

The paper emphasized that modern technology has a huge impact on the overall scenario of the future careers, from businesses that focus on sustainability to the occupations that manage future technologies. It also expected that with Vision 2030 there would be important careers that open the way to potential future jobs such as specialized law, cybersecurity, accounting, insurance, alternative energy, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, e-business management, and other disciplines.

 The comments went on to say that we are heading into new specialties in the coming years that would emerge in the job market, and depend on programming; such as artificial intelligence and robotics. We must keep abreast and catch up with these developments, while at the same time we must not forget that there are traditional specializations that the market still needs. Therefore, we still care about how to build future specialties in our educational institutions, to be presented according to the actual need of the future labor market based on correct data and information.

The comments also emphasized that we need to go very far in the application of knowledge, education and professional programs that achieve these advanced specialties, and most importantly, that are closely related to our national need in all fields. For example, it is no longer strange to hear such future specialties: improved drone traffic, robot psychologist, space traffic man, or virtual teacher.

 The contributions made on this paper indicated that it is imperative to find an equation for a balance between the development of technical specialties and human specialties. The human specialties are directed towards developing human skills in dealing with the circumstances of the time, the skills of thinking, planning, responsibility, initiative, and developing the scientific research methodology and tools in these sciences, to diagnose the human reality and support it intellectually, emotionally and socially.

The contributors indicated that there is a gap between education and the labor market, and that this gap will not shrink with a single meeting or program. This is an ongoing and participatory process between the two sides, and needs constant updating. In addition, most future jobs are centered around technology and the traditional specialties only support them superficially. In practice, traditional careers varied according to the requirements of the time, and here comes the role of educational institutions in updating the curricula and creating the required specializations in the labor market.

Among the most important recommendations were the following:

• Modernizing the educational system, training and qualifying the educational staff to deal with modern technology, and working on a strong scientific foundation in the fields related to technology.
• Restructuring some colleges and merging some majors to be in one department, dispensing with specializations that society no longer needs, and introducing new majors.
• Focusing on the humanities in our universities and developing them in a way that suits the spirit of the times, as it is a source of civil strength and cultural understanding.
• Introducing the Saudi Vision 2030 as a course of study in the preparatory year for universities, and organizing visits for students to NEOM, major and specialized companies, such as: Aramco, SABIC, telecommunications, and others; to see future opportunities and determine their scientific and professional path.
• Offering of future specializations in universities or colleges that has to be gradual through paths in the study plans. Then they will be detailed as independent specializations later, according to the need of the labor market and increasing demand.
• Accelerating the issuance and implementation of the new university law.
• Providing accurate statistics on the number of workers and the percentage of nationalization in various professions and specialties to form an integrated image on the labor market, to build an economic model that calibrates the economy with existing job opportunities.
• Establishing independent and other digital universities and colleges affiliated with each university in different tracks according to the requirements of the labor market.