CAIRO: The total number of graduates from universities and institutes both public and private recorded 116 percent increase in the last 10 year, a recent study by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics revealed. In 2007, 405,733 graduated in comparison to 187,078 in 1998. Public universities, led by Al Azhar University, have the lion's share, with its graduates making 76 percent of the overall number in 2007, while private universities contributed 1.7 percent. Unemployment rates are high, while employers say there are vacancies but the market is not providing them with qualified personal. The issue was stirred in recent debates with calls for adjusting higher education to better suit the needs of the job market. The total number of graduates from science related faculties is about 399,308 in 2007. Engineering graduates, for instance, have increase 210.4 percent compared to 1998 numbers. Medical related studies recorded 237 percent increase in the number of graduates, reaching 28,004 in 2007. Meanwhile studying humanities remained on the top, with 81.9 percent increase in the number of graduates since 1998, reaching 332,255 in 2007. The number of graduates from agricultural sciences has decreased from 6,867 graduates in 1998 to 6,425 graduates in 2007, a 6.4 percent decline. "We decreased the number of students accepted into the faculty of medicine by 15 percent because are more than the market needs, the media advisor in the Ministry of Education Adly Reda told Daily News Egypt. There are no plans aimed at restructuring the types of studies offered to students, in spite of calls from employers. An employment company told Daily News Egypt, that human resources, sales, marketing, finance, accounting and engineering are the most in demand jobs in the market right now.
