Nabil Najd

Manager MENA Region

STUDENT RECRUITMENT IN THE MENA

REGION – A GENERAL OVERVIEW

The ICEF Dubai Workshop

Dubai, UAEFebruary 01 - 03, 2016

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MENA Region – Facts

General information

• Offical Name: Middle East and North Africa

• Number of countries: 25

• Language: Mainly Arabic, Iranian

• Government Type: Monarchy mostly, very few democratically voted

governments

• Population: 523 million

• Ethnic Groups: Asian, European, American, British live and work in

the MENA region

• Economy: Oil and gas and natural resources

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Geopolitical – MENA REGION

• Middle East is an important bridge linking to Europe, Africa and Asia

• Throughout history, culture, trade, and ideas have flowed through the Middle

East „crossroads“

• The region was also the domain of many great empires throughout the

centuries

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MENA Market

The region‘s rapidly growing population and significant oil revenues has

offered a captive market for the educational industry. According to the US-

based Populatoon Reference Bureau, the population in the MENA region is

expected to skyrocket from 432 million in 2007 to 700 million by 2050, even

exceeding Europe‘s population in that year.

The region will continue to post double-digit average growth of around 5%

annually in the next five years.

Institutions must be patient: unlike the West, the Middle East does not have a

longstanding capitalist culture, so business set-up time can be a longer than

would be expected in the West.

The Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region is generously endowed with

lavish natural resources and a young population with 70% under the age of 30

The region offers educational opportunities as the region‘s governments are

seeking the placement of students away from home due to limited capacity for

higher education and language learning at home.4

Enrollment rates in higher education have been increasing at a very

rapid rate for the last ten years. The forecast is that this will increase at

about the same rate over the next ten years

Enrollment could increase by as much as 50 percent in ten years

Public expenditure on higher education has not been increasing at the

same rate as enrollment.

The Size of the Market

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The Education System of MENA

● Local schools provide free education for all, including text books and trips

● International schools follow a variety of curriculums like IB, UK, American

● Schools have recorded consistent growth in enrolment

● There are more than 30000 schools (public and private in the MENA region)

● No boarding facilities, no food is provided, low resources

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The Education System of MENA

● Students finish schools lacking appropriate foreign language profeciency

● Most schools have 12 years of education, so certain universities will

require the students to do a foundation year

● Students lose a minimum of two years before joining a university

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Middle Eastern Students studying abroad

• Immense growth in the number of the Middle Eastern Students studying abroad

• KASP is set to run until at least 2020

• Other Middle Eastern nations like Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, etc. operate similar initiatives

• Middle Eastern nations are not only keeping pace, but increasing their proportional representation

• Saudi Arabia was the world’s fifth largest country of origin for those studying abroad and Iran the tenth – accounting for 62,500 and 51,600 students abroad respectively 8

SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE IN MENA REGION

• Social media usage in MENA was particularly visible during the pro-democracy protests of

the Arab Spring beginning in 2011.

• Facebook and YouTube are widely used across the region

• Variations from country to country. Internet penetration varies from 85-90 % in Bahrain, UAE

and Qatar to, at the lower end of the range, 44- 50% in Jordan and Egypt.

• Nine in ten internet users in MENA use social media everyday

• Smartphones account for 40% of web impression in the region.9

• Top five social networks in MENA and selected markets by

percentage of Internet users

• Facebook is the leading network with a 89% penetration among

MENA Internet users.

• Twitter and Google+ are a distant second and third respectively

• The chart reflects national variations as well, including the notably

high levels of Twitter usage in Saudi Arabia

FACEBOOK IS YOUR #1 FRIEND

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Population of Facebook users by country

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Population of Twitter users by country

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Which Programs are interesting for

MENA Students?

The following programs are of most interest for MENA students

• Business

• Engineering

• Medicine

• Journalism

• Graphic design/Interior Design/Architecture

• Law

• Very few undertake humanities & arts

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www.icef.com

Business33%

Engineering/ Architecture/ Aviation

20%

Medicine/ Dentistry13%

English9%

Health Science/Medical Sciences

6%

Computer science/IT

6%

Arts/Humanities/Education

5%

Design/ Other trades3%

Law/ International Relations

2%

Media & Mass Communication

2%

Science1%

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• Going abroad is a tradition

• The Ministry of Higher Education provided lists of the recommended

higher education institutions.

• Students wishing to complete their higher education must obtain the

approval of the ministry before the enrollment through online request of

the program study

• MENA Students also believe that studying abroad will give them a

greater chance at career success.

Trends & Tendencies of MENA Students

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Population Size & Growth in the

MENA Region

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Country of Region Number of students abroad % of all mobile students Top destination Countries

Saudi Arabia 62,535 1.8% USA, UK, Australia, Canada

Iran 51,549 1.5% Malaysia, USA, UK, Italy

Jordan 16,825 0.5% US, Ukraine, UK, Australia

Lebanon 13,089 0.4% France, UK, USA, Australia, Canada

Kuwait 10,686 0.3% USA, UK, Canada

Oman 10,049 0.3% UK, USA, Australia

UAE 8,526 0.2% UK, Australia, USA, Canada

Bahrain 4,096 0.1% UK, USA

Qatar 3,410 0.1% UK, USA

Key Trends in Study Abroad Programs

• Middle Eastern Students are studying abroad in increasing numbers

• Based on UNESCO data 2014 shows that Saudi Arabia was the world’s fifth

country of origin and Iran the tenth.

• A mass movement of students between countries

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DIPLOMA BACHELORS MASTERS FOUNDATION EnglishCertificate/Course

Level of Study

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Students Age Group

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FEMALE20%

MALE80%

Student Demographics-Gender

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Thank you!

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