The Nexus Between Higher Education, Labour Market, and Industry 4.0 in the Context of the Arab Gulf States

Higher education plays an important role in human capital development. It advances knowledge, development of creative ideas, innovative methods, and equips students and graduates with soft skills that are critical to the job market. Countries are heavily investing in education infrastructure, building new universities, expanding existing academic institutions, and scientific and computer laboratories for research and development. The six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are not an exception. They created new education cities, permitted private investment in higher education, issued laws to regulate private universities and colleges, and increased the number of students enrolled in higher academic institutions. In this chapter, we attempt to provide a conceptual analysis of the main characteristics of the higher education and labour market in the Gulf region. We also explain the motivations behind investing heavily in higher education infrastructure, human capital development, and job creation. We aim to provide a background and an introduction to the comprehensive coverage and analysis of the higher education sector and its relation to the labour market. We argue that despite the significant investments made in this sector, there is a gap between the educational outputs and types of skills required in the increasingly globalized Gulf labour market. We end by underscoring the changing role of universities in developing curricula and human resources that match the requirements of industry 4.0 technologies.