Building a knowledge-based economy and nationalising jobs in Kuwait : assessing compatibility of these national objectives

Abstract

The Government of Kuwait is keen to free the country from a double dependency, on oil explorts and labour imports. The challenge is to transform a weak demography into strong human capital and build a knowledge-based economy. But will nationals or foreign nationals be the main holders of the needed knowledge? Universities that had an impressive start fifty years ago began to retreat towards the end of the last century, and the proportion of graduates to decline in recent generations. Time has come on the one hand to establish greater links between universities and the labour market, and on the other to ensure more and better paid job opportunities for graduates in the private sector.