Education: Between the Certificate and Its Value

The Language of Leadership

Private higher education in Kuwait has witnessed significant expansion, becoming an integral part of the educational ecosystem and providing students with diverse options. Furthermore, the presence of private universities, with their inherent flexibility, new specializations, and investments in education, can serve as a genuine asset to the economy and society.

However, amidst this expansion, it is crucial to examine whether the growth in the number of degrees awarded corresponds to the growth in the true value of the education provided. The issue does not lie with private education per se, nor with the fact that some institutions are family-owned or investment-driven. Rather, the problem lies in a model where an institution’s sustainability becomes heavily dependent on recruiting, retaining, and graduating students, while the quality of outputs may not be the most visible indicator of success.

This brings to light an issue that warrants more serious discussion. Ultimately, a university is not merely a business offering an educational service; it is an institution that builds human capital.

When students are the primary source of revenue, a natural conflict can arise between academic interests and commercial objectives, particularly when maintaining student enrollment and continuing fee income become central to the institution’s sustainability.

This does not imply that private universities intentionally graduate unqualified students. Rather, the system itself may create incentives that do not always align with academic interests. This concern becomes even more pronounced when ownership, management, and academic decision-making are closely intertwined.

Moreover, international accreditation must be an essential component of this equation. Not every recognition or license reflects the same academic standard. The presence of both local and international universities in the market does not necessarily imply that levels of quality, scientific research, teaching, and outcomes are equivalent across them.

Specialized international accreditations provide an additional layer of external review, standards, and continuous measurement. Therefore, university evaluation should be based on what they demonstrably prove regarding the quality of their graduates, rather than solely on their ability to attract students and confer degrees.

Here lie deeper economic concerns. If obtaining a university degree becomes easier than acquiring the skills it is supposed to represent, we may create what can be described as credential inflation: the number of degree holders increases, while the level of skills, productivity, and innovation capacity grows at a slower pace.

A graduate may hold a degree in business administration, engineering, or technology, yet enter the labor market without the practical competencies expected of such a qualification. Consequently, companies bear the cost of retraining, finding skilled talent becomes more difficult, and the need to recruit expertise from abroad persists, despite rising local education levels.

Even more alarming is that the problem is no longer limited to the number of graduates, but to the actual value of the skills they possess. For over a decade, reports and academic studies have repeatedly warned of a persistent gap between higher education outputs and the needs of Kuwait’s labor market. Kuwait has taken important and serious steps toward aligning university specializations with market needs. However, the challenge extends beyond the name of the specialization to the skills graduates actually acquire through it.

Security and Judiciary

Breaking News

Newsletter

The mere existence of a program in artificial intelligence or engineering does not guarantee that its graduates possess the required technical, analytical, and practical skills.

The problem, therefore, is not the number of degrees, but the likelihood that we possess more qualifications than skills. Graduates hold academic degrees yet require retraining to meet workplace demands. As private education continues to expand without a clear link between graduation and actual skills, degrees risk gradually shifting from evidence of competence to mere proof of course completion. This threatens to transform higher education from a means of building human capital into a market for producing credentials.

The solution begins by shifting the competition among universities from the number of enrollees and graduates to the quality of skills students acquire, linking graduation to measurable learning outcomes and the actual needs of the labor market.

Academic researcher and Assistant Dean, College of Business Administration