Dear Shadqat,

"A lot are graduate, but only few get jobs. How to change the state of affairs and decrease this gap? You ask.

It is really the case that nowdays there are a lot of graduate students -- students with a Master or Ph D degree -- who do not get a job either at public or private institutions. In order to change this gap between having a high educaction degree and not getting a job, we have to look first at the reasons for such a gap.

I think that this gap is mainly due to three reasons. First, Master and Ph D degrees may be not in terms of acquired knowledge and expertise what they are are supposed to be. Suffice it to say that several public or private colleges and universities deliver now such degrees easily or even too easily. To complicate things more, it is now possible to buy these degrees via Internet. Emplowers know of these realities and hence they may not trust much on these degrees.

Second, when those who hold a Master or a Ph D degree get a job, this job is relatively well paid. Consequently, employers may be prone to have this job done, say, by a chepear worker, namely if they think that this cheaper emplyoee may have more or less the same knowledge an expertise than that of those who hold a graduate degree.

Third, it is often the case that colleges, universities in particular, emphasize basic, not applied research. Even though fundamental or basic research may turn out to very useful in the future, even more useful than applied research, it is often said that there is a huge gap between what is taught and learned at the University and the needs of industry and society at large. This is an additional reason why a lot of graduate sudents do not get easily a reasonably paid job.

All that said, it seems that the gap you point to may be diminuished by (1) rendering more demanding those institutions who deliver high education degrees such as Master or Ph D degrees; (2) convincing emplowers that a job policy based on low or cheap salaries may be costly in the long run. We all know of examples where this was the case; (3) having educational institutions adressing issues of basic or fundamental research, universities, for example, and educational institutions addressing existing practical problems, colleges, for instance.

Be that as it way, I do not think much of research, be it basic or applied, that relies too much on private funding. Private funding is generally more interested in making money than a better knowledge of the unknown. As I see it, to get a better knowledge of the unknown is the fabric of what science is made of.

Kind regards

Orlando

some vocational skills should be added to raise the number of entrepreneur and self-employed people, educational planning and policies should be changed

Getting first job is always challenging unless the candidate is not from higly reputed school. Regardless of results and reputation of the school, employer should hire the right person who can work better in the team and contribute to the organization..